Finding Mercy
by Eryessa
Summary: Mercy McMahon was taken 17 yrs ago, and now in her 30s she is back with two kids and is lost in this new WWE landscape. Seth Rollins comes into the picture and shows her what a real man is, while trying to help in capturing the man that took her. With the help of new superstars in the WWE, she slowly finds herself and what her feelings are telling her about Seth. Seth/OC
1. Prologue

**Finding Mercy**

 **Prologue**

The detective showed Vince McMahon the bloodied powder blue panties in a crime scene baggy.

"Are these hers?" The detective asked.

Vince didn't touch the bag. He heard his wife crying, holding onto Stephanie's boyfriend Paul Levesque. Shane wasn't in the room, but he would be telling his oldest son the news.

"Yes." Vince finally said.

Mercy McMahon would never have left the house. She had been having a hard time with other students over her being socially awkward and a McMahon. Vince and Linda had no worries about her trying to run away, even if she was a fourteen year old girl. But when the housekeeper had come in, Mercy was nowhere to be seen. Therefore the police were involved.

"Do you know if there was someone who would have wanted to harm your daughter?" The detective asked.

"No. I mean, there's kids bullying her at school because she's different." Vince said.

"Different? How different?"

"She's got some social disorders. She has a routine that she likes to follow."

"Does anyone know her routine?"

"She comes home and then does her homework straight after school." Linda McMahon said. "The housekeeper knows about it."

"What about the gardener?" Paul asked.

"He's never come in the house." Vince said.

"Well, I'm sorry to say but these were found in your garden shed." The detective said.

Vince felt the color drain from his face. Linda cried harder, Stephanie stayed quiet. Paul and Vince shared a look with Shane, who was holding onto his wife.

"We don't know anything about him, not really." Shane said.

"Earnest Dickson, how did you find him?"

"Through an employment agency. Why?" Vince asked.

It didn't take long for people to realize that Earnest Dickson had taken fourteen year old Mercy McMahon, the youngest daughter of Vince McMahon.

* * *

 **Hey guys, it's me. I know I have been gone for an absolute long time. In short I lost interest in writing fanfic because I went back to college and I had health issues that I am still dealing with.**

 **So as the seasons change so will my interests with writing WWE fics. I decided to try something new with this story. Disclaimer, I only own my OC Mercy and her two children, which you all will meet soon.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Momma, can I have a snack?" Koda Dickson asked.

"Sure," Mercy told her son.

Koda got up from his seat at the table and hugged his mother then went to get a snack.

Mercy smiled over at the four year old as she ran her other hand over Raven's hair. Raven was coloring in her color book that Ernie had brought back for her from town.

Mercy went to walk away from the small table set up. She walked to the door, but had to stop only five feet from it. The dragging of a chain and the collar on her neck pulled, preventing Mercy from getting any closer to the door.

Ernie would be back at any time. He had gone out to do some hunting. The spring snow outside would have prevented Mercy from trying to escape. Not that she knew exactly where he had been keeping her. From what she had seen Ernie had taken her to Alaska because of the fact that there was daylight at midnight for part of the year.

She had been anticipating Ernie back. The slight rut in the floor had told her she'd been pacing the length of the cabin for years, mostly with a child on her hip or lost in her mind.

"Momma," Koda walked up to the window that was to the side of the front door. "I hear people."

Raven got up and went to look out the window, pushing the tarp to the side to see out. There weren't any cawing coming from the ravens that were outside, but to have Koda say that there were people outside, it made her step back.

"Come here." She said. "Koda, Raven, come here."

They went back to their mother's side. Even though it was still daylight, they could see lights coming through the front of the house. Ernie had never brought people over before, it had always just been him coming and going, bringing animals for her to prepare for storage. No, there was no chance anyone would know what was going on, or what was waiting for them on the other side of that door.

"Alaska State Patrol!" Someone yelled, the door banging loudly.

Raven gripped Macy's dress and buried her face in her mother's hip. Koda didn't say anything as the pounding continued.

She counted six sets of two loud knocks. Each set would get relatively louder. The person kept yelling that they were Alaska State Patrol, but it wouldn't have been the first time she answered the door in hopes it had been the police, for it to only be Ernie there. He would test her every couple of times a year just to see if she was still her sinner self. Whatever that meant.

"Break it down." Mercy heard the yeller say.

The next thing she knew was that the door was getting kicked in, which had never happened before. Raven screamed, Koda went to hide behind the nearby stove but Mercy was rooted in place.

"What the hell?" A man asked as they shined a light on her.

Mercy didn't look at them, not directly, but more so on their lowering guns. Handguns, she didn't ever see any of those, there were rifles in the house but that was about it.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" Another asked.

She didn't say anything. She blinked as their lights roved over her, noting the chain that came from the leather collar around her neck. Raven continued to cry, holding onto her mother tighter and Koda poked his head out from around the stove. Neither of the kids had seen people other than Mercy and Ernie.

"What's your name, ma'am?" The first officer asked.

"Mercy Dickson." She said.

Should she tell them? In the pit of her stomach it squeezed, it squeezed hard. Was this another test? Was Ernie outside waiting to see if she failed again. These thoughts and other horrible things fluttered through her mind as she looked at the four men, no six because two more entered the residence.

Ernie had told her that everyone out there beyond the house was going to rape her, maybe kill their children.

"You're safe now. Don't you worry. Where's Ernest Dickson? Do you know where he is?"

"He's outside." Mercy said as she took a step back.

"Call in EMTs. She's has a collar locked on her neck." One of the police said.

Was this really the end? Was she going to be let go and set free? What about her family? Where were they? Did they know?

"Get a female officer here, too."

"Momma," Raven whispered, though she still had tears in her eyes. "I'm scared."

"Me, too." Mercy said. "Me, too."

Koda came out of hiding if only to get away from one of the cops that was coming through to do a search of the property. He had gone back towards where the two bedrooms were. Mercy didn't know how long he was gone, as other cops came in, one with a bolt cutter to get to the eye bolt that was connected to the chained collar.

They left the collar on, but they brought Mercy and the kids outside, after finding some coats for them. Considering that Mercy was only wearing a simple white dress and the children weren't wearing shoes, they had to sit down on the chairs outside, on the porch. A police officer, his name was Lucas, Officer Lucas, was asking them questions about Ernest.

"Ernie was supposed to go out to get food." Mercy said as she held Raven on her lap.

Koda was staring at the cars with their red and blue lights flashing. People were marching around the property, some going out to the kill shed where Mercy had told them about the guns.

She watched as one officer walked out with something Ernie had buried in the darkest part of their closet. It was a red and black backpack with WWF pins on it. There were other pins as well, like a Stone Cold Steve Austin, a Bret Hart pin, even one for ECW star Raven, her daughter's namesake. They were old names, people she had liked or watched when growing up. Memories of these people, the people on her pins popped up as the officers talked.

"There's a wallet in here." The officer told Lucas.

He opened it and looked at the ID that was within. It was just a school ID, it was something she hadn't seen in a long time, containing the name of the person she once was.

"Mercy McMahon?" Both officers looked at her.

She looked down. Her attention was caught by the fact that both Koda and Raven's hair were both tangled, she would have to brush them out when she got the chance.

"Are you really Mercy McMahon?" Officer Lucas asked her.

It would only take one word, one word to make all those old memories to go away. If she said yes then she would be lost.

If she said no, maybe she would just get to go back in the house with her kids.

* * *

 **There's the actual start of the story. I hope you guys like it. I'll keep updating when I have the time.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I was always going to be Paul to her." Triple H had said one day as he put the picture down on the table.

The picture of Mercy McMahon had been seen the picture every February fourteenth since he had been working for the WWE. It wasn't just him who had seen the picture either but others that were close to Trips. As Triple H had left it laying out when he was called away, Seth Rollins was the one that picked it up.

"So this is her, huh?" Seth asked as he looked at the young girl in the picture.

"Yeah, that's her." Sheamus looked down at the picture. "How old do you think she'll be by now?"

"She went missing in 2000 when she was fourteen, so fourteen plus seventeen, she would have been thirty two by now."

"She's older than you." Sheamus pointed out.

"Younger than you." Seth countered.

Both men narrowed their eyes at each other until Sheamus sighed. "Do you know if anyone else has seen this picture?"

"I don't know, it's not like Trips really shares with me." Seth put the picture back down on the table.

"I hear they open the case around this time of year in hopes of finding something." Sheamus said. "Trips really misses her, you know."

The picture they had been looking at was back in the Attitude Era of the WWE, a picture snapped in a back area of the arena and of Mercy McMahon talking to Triple H, and she was smiling. She hardly ever smiled, as it was commonly told. She didn't like loud places, or being around a lot of people, Seth had been told. So she would be set up in a local arena where she could watch the show with her mother Linda McMahon.

Mercy McMahon and Triple H had a bond that went beyond just being the boyfriend of her older sister at the time. Now Triple H was the husband of Stephanie McMahon and the family just did whatever the family wanted.

"Hope for Mercy has dried up." Sheamus said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Cesaro came in just about the same time as Seth's Shield team mates did. The match for tag team titles was going to be coming up and there had been some pre-show heat from the fans about it dropping The Shield for one of the other teams. Considering that Cesaro and Sheamus were very liked Heels, as well as the reformed Shield, it had been troubled waters for the five men when it was found out that Seth and Dean weren't going for the tag titles.

"Anyone know what the hell is going on for tonight?" Dean's rough voice sounded from near the door.

Roman Reigns offered a shrug as Cesaro dropped down into a chair nearby.

"Trips will be back soon. He got called out." Seth said.

"So, what's happening with you guys?" Dean asked, his eyes falling on Sheamus.

"Trouble with the creatives. Again." The Irishman drawled out.

Seth's phone vibrated, he reached for his back pocket and looked at the screen. Rolling his eyes, he shoved the phone back in his pocket.

"Same thing?" Roman asked his teammate.

"Yeah, pretty much." The younger man said.

No one said anything. Mostly out of respect for the Architect. Had Dean said something, which was no uncommon, Seth would have had an issue. But thankfully his friend didn't say anything.

When Triple H came back into the room he looked rather pale. All color was drained from his face and he was staring at his phone as if he had heard it speak on its own.

"What's up?" Roman asked.

"They found her. They found her." Triple H ran a shaky hand over his head. "Seventeen years and they've found her."

"What?" Seth asked. "Found who?"

Paul looked at Seth. The older man had been talking gibberish, but now it was like he had seen the face of God.

"Mercy, they found Mercy?" Seth asked when he finally put the pieces together.

"Her body?" Dean asked, as morbid as he was he did voice the group's darker thoughts.

"No. She's alive. She's been alive for seventeen years. They found her in Alaska." Trips said.

The teams looked around at each other. Dean, though the loose canon as he was, smirked. Roman closed his eyes. Sheamus and Cesaro shared a look. Seth, well he glanced at the picture on the table.

"How is she?" Seth asked his boss and friend.

"They won't tell us much. She's got two kids of her own now with Him."

Him, being the man that they had been searching for. Ernest Dickson. He had been missing since the day Mercy went missing. In the times that Seth had talked with Linda McMahon, that was all she ever talked about. Mercy was her life. Stephanie didn't talk about her sister and Shane would have a far off look, much like Trips had, when the mention of his sister came up.

"That's good. You know, it's good that she's alive." Seth offered.

"Yeah, that's a good thing." Sheamus said.

"So what's happening now?" Dean asked. "Are you going to go see her?"

"Vince and Linda are flying out to Alaska to see them. The police haven't found that asshole. He was last seen with a gun and going out to do who knows what."

None of the men talked, they didn't say anything but they did glance amongst themselves. Something wasn't being said by Paul, he had been hiding something. From the way his arms flexed as he picked up the picture and to the way his breathing had escalated slightly, trying not to cry.

"Hey, man, what's wrong?" Seth finally asked.

"Stephanie didn't want to head out to see her. Steph said that she would rather run the shows. She didn't want me to go either."

"Sorry to hear that." Cesaro said.

Sheamus nodded. Seth was looking at the picture in Paul's hand.

So she was alive, alive and maybe well. For any of the men knew, she was okay.

They didn't know the extent of everything that had gone on, or what she was like now.

* * *

 **Yeah, maybe not the best of updates but I think I like it.**

 **Just a little note for the rest of the story, Triple H is Paul to Mercy, everyone else is going to be called their ring names.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

There were two people talking to the detectives involved with her woman was fair haired, much as Mercy was herself. The older man was big, and he was brown haired. Had they talked these two people about everything Mercy told the detectives? Was the large tree in the backyard and of the places where Ernie kept his nearby tree blinds spoken about? How much did the detectives tell them about what happened to her over the years?

Mercy reached up and touched her neck. Even though the collar had been long gone, it felt like it was still there. The clear rub scar of the years in it had worn around her throat.

Raven shifted on the bed and mumbled something. Koda, with Koda's stuffed bear, slept peacefully next to his sister in one of the hospital beds. They had just eaten dinner and were asleep before eight in the evening. After everything that had happened in the last two days, they weren't unfazed by it. Koda always asked questions when they were alone but Raven had stopped talking whenever someone else was around. They did figure out that police and doctors were common.

Scooting off the bed, Mercy walked towards the door, trying to hear what everyone had been saying.

"You still haven't caught the bastard?" The dark haired man asked.

"This is Alaska, Mr. McMahon, a place where people come to be forgotten. We have all resources combing the area. But you have to understand, it's pretty much wilderness out there."

"I hope he gets eaten by a bear." The woman said.

Both of them, they sounded familiar. The man, Mr. McMahon, was gruff and angry as she had remembered her father to be. And the woman was quieter, but she was crying.

"Mom?" Mercy spoke up softly behind the two.

The group of them turned around and they looked. Yes, these two were her parents. They were the people she had wanted to see again, even in the deepest reaches of her memory she knew she could never forget who her mother and father were.

"My baby," she heard her mother weep.

Though she didn't like to be hugged, much less to be touched, Mercy wrapped her left around around her mother, pressing her face into her mother's shoulder. She smelled the familiar perfume, the same floral perfume that Mercy used to fall asleep to when she was younger.

Even while her mother cried, holding onto Mercy tighter, she had a chance to glance up at her father.

"Mercy," she heard him say.

"Hi, Dad." Mercy said.

His face squished up in a way she had seen several times before. Her father reached out and placed his hand on top of her head. Much as he had done in her younger years, at least the remaining memories she held onto all this time.

"Mom, you're going to wake Koda and Raven." Mercy said as she pulled back.

Her mom pulled away. "Kids? That's their names?"

Mercy nodded. She fidgeted with the ring on her left hand ring finger.

"They're sleeping. But you can see them." She moved to the side and motioned to the farthest bed. "Koda with the bushy brown hair and Raven, my black haired daughter. Koda is four and Raven is six."

"Raven?" Vince asked.

"I liked WCW Raven. He was nice to me." Mercy said as she lifted a shoulder.

Both children hadn't been awoken to Linda McMahon's crying, which was a good thing. Mercy smiled as Koda cuddled up to his sister's back, hugging the stuff bear closer to him.

"What happened to your neck?" Vince asked.

When Mercy looked at her father, he had reached out and ran a finger over the bandage. She swatted his hand away.

"He didn't want me to leave the house. It was like a dog collar, there was an eye bolt in the middle of the floor so I couldn't go more than five feet or so when he wasn't there." Again, Mercy shrugged.

Yet her mother started to cry. Mercy didn't know what to do. It was like back in her childhood, she didn't know what she had said to make her mother cry, or why people had been staring at her. And now years later, she was still out of the loop.

"Mom, stop crying. You're going to wake them up." Mercy said in a tensed voice.

But even when she said it, she saw the look on her parents faces. They looked like some of the wrestlers who had lost a title run, of course she was grasping at what she had seen when she was growing up. Some of the memories she had were still there, even if her parents had aged considerably in the time she had been away.

So Mercy decided to bring up something, a different topic. "Where are Shane and Stephanie?"

"They didn't come. Shane wanted to but there was some work that needed to be done."

Mercy understood that. Her father had put a lot of faith in Shane to work with the company. Even if it seemed muddled around the time she had gone away.

"Paul keeps asking about you. I don't think I have ever seen him and your father talk so much through texting." Linda tried to sound almost happy about that.

Texting was something that didn't happen a lot back in 2000 but she had seen a Blackberry and knew something of that. Mercy nodded after putting the pieces together that texting had become a mainstay in electronics, which was how a lot of the other doctors and nurses talked.

Mercy turned and walked over to her bed. The room was bare, no flowers or cards. She remembered the couple of times that Shane had been hurt and she had gone to see him in the hospital. There were cards and balloons saying get well and gifts that friends and family had brought him. There was none of that in her room. Of course she had been talking to a deer head for the last seventeen odd years, making up stories about it to keep her occupied when Ernie wasn't around.

"You don't know this but Paul and Stephanie got married." Linda said.

"That's good. I always liked Paul." Mercy said.

"They have children of their own. Do you want to see their pictures?" Linda asked.

"Okay."

Her mother showed her three little girls, ranging in ages from eleven to three years old. They all looked like much of the McMahon family, with the exception of Mercy McMahon, being fairer than her brother and sister. Brown hair little girls, though they seemed to have blond highlights thanks to their father.

Mercy looked at her son and daughter, still sleeping on the bed next to hers. They didn't have her and her mother's blonde hair, probably thanks to a mix of her family or from Ernie. Koda was a brown eyed boy and Raven retained Mercy's dark blue eyes. At least they would fit into the brown haired part of the family easily.

"They're cute little girls." Mercy offered her mother the phone back. "When are we going home?"

"Not for a few more days. The police still need to at least find that man, and we'll have to get everything ready for you three. Do you think Paul and Stephanie might help get the house ready?" Linda looked at Vince.

"I don't see why not. Might give Steph a wake up call." He said. "Or she'll have a maid service do it."

Mercy squeezed her hands between her knees. What was she going to do now that she was back with her family? What use was she going to be? She only knew how to survive a man that was a holy terror to her and her children. How was her life going to be now that she was away from the cabin?

Koda was going to be asking more questions, Raven would shut down and Mercy didn't know how to handle everything.

Mercy shook her head of those thoughts and ran a hand over her face.

"Did you forget about me?" Mercy asked. "Did you forget about me while I was gone?"

"No," Linda touched Mercy's face. "No, we never forgot about you, Mercy. We would never do that."

"Did you stop looking?" Mercy asked as she pulled her face away from her mother's touch.

"No. Paul refused to stop looking and we never stopped looking." Vince said.

Mercy felt better. "Okay." She said and looked over at her children. "What's going to happen when we get back?"

"We'll take it one day at a time." Linda said. "Let you and the kids get used to having a normal life."

"The FBI questioned me. Will I have to go to a trial or something?"

Vince shook his head. "No, well maybe. It's too early to tell. We'll get to that hurtle when it comes."

"Okay."

* * *

 **I made it to another update so soon. I hope you guys like that. Anyways, I'll have another update soon if I am not too busy.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Another Update! :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Sheamus was in the men's locker room getting ready for his match that night. Cesaro was across the room with John Cena talking about something. Seth Rollins was nearby as he re read the script that had been given to him prior in the day while trying to get his shin guards on right.

"Hey, fella, could you call Vince for me?" Triple H asked Sheamus. "I have to run and do a promo. I told Vince I would call."

Triple H tossed the Irishman his phone before splitting out of the locker room.

Seth was looking at him. He had been the only other Shield member in the locker room with Dean out of the room talking to Renee, and Roman still not back from something else. The others in the room were more or less in their own little world, oblivious to what was going on with Sheamus.

"Are you just going to stare at it?" Seth asked.

"You try calling up your boss."

Seth raised his hands. "Yeah, and he'll likely curse you out for interrupting his time with his daughter.

"That's what's worrying me." Sheamus mumbled.

It wasn't hard to find Vince's mobile number in Paul's cell phone, it was pretty much second on Paul's contact list after Stephanie's mobile number. He connected the call, and waited with an elbow on his knee, his ear to the phone and the other one raking through his red hair.

"Paul?" A soft female voice asked upon picking up. "Paul, is that you?"

"Uh, no. He asked me to call Vince McMahon. Who is this?"

"I'm Mercy McMahon. Who are you?"

Seth and Sheamus made eye contact. Seth made a gesture with his hands as if trying to mime out what he wanted to ask.

"This is Sheamus. I'm one of the performers that works for the WWE. Triple H asked me to check in with Vince."

"Dad left for a moment. Mom and him went to get something to eat. He left his phone in my room."

Sheamus covered the receiver part of the phone. "It's Mercy."

"You're talking to his daughter?" Seth hissed, his going wide.

"I don't know which one you are." Mercy said, which broke Sheamus' concentration with the other superstar.

"Well, I'm Irish for starters. No missing me accent."

She had gone quiet. Sheamus heard laughter going on in the background, like children or something.

"Koda, Raven, please be quiet. I'm on the phone." The laughter died down. "Sorry about that, Mr. Sheamus. Do you know when will Paul be back?"

"I don't know. He wanted me to call Vince and see how you were doing? Ever since they found out that you are alive, everyone wants to know what is going on with you and all the details." Sheamus said.

"Isn't being alive good enough?"

"Sure it is. But everyone just wants to know what happened to you. That's all."

"This is my dad's company, they make a big deal out of anything. I don't want anything to do with it."

"Who could blame you, Lass?"

"Can you tell that to Paul? I know my father, he'll want to make this into a storyline or something. I don't want to." She almost sounded frantic, her breath coming in short bursts over the phone.

"I'll let him know. And Mercy," Sheamus started.

"Yeah?"

"You stay safe and good blessings to ya." He said.

"Thank you." After that she hung up.

Disconnecting from the call, Sheamus put the phone down next to him. He proceeded to push his face in his hands and groan.

"What was that last bit?" Seth asked.

"She doesn't want anything to do with the company. She knows Vince'll want to make her into some sort of storyline but she doesn't want that."

"Like you said, who could blame her? I'm not kidding, if you put Dean and her in a room together, I'm sure she would find any way to get out."

"Yeah. I see your point." Sheamus tugged on his beard beads. "Can't help but to feel sorry for the lass, with everything she had been through."

"Paul told me they had to identify her underwear when she went missing. How horrible is that, huh? We can't find your daughter but are these hers?" Seth mimicked what a cop could sound like. "Ever see the shrine to Mercy that Linda has in her home."

"I have. Sad to think of Mrs. McMahon lighting a prayer candle for Mercy."

Not a lot of wrestlers had been able to see inside of the CEO's home. Sheamus and Seth, having working relationships and friendships with Triple H, had been allowed to come by the McMahon homestead. It was where they learned more about Mercy and her life before her disappearance.

"Do you think she'll come around backstage?" Seth asked.

"If ya are talking about finally meeting her to get her out of your system, then yes, I have wondered that, too."

They looked at each other. The almost veteran and the Corporations' Architect were two differing people. Sheamus big and white, literally white, and Seth had been a heel for so long most of his ring attire were black. But they were both friends with Triple H and neither wanted to push their friend into anything.

"Maybe she will come around. We can only hope." Seth said.

* * *

 **In all honesty, do you guys like shorter chapters or long chapters? Just asking because of how I initially wrote this up where a lot of my chapters are like Two Thousand words long. Tell me if you like them this short or longer.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

When they landed at the private airport the first thing Mercy saw were the people with cameras. They were safely behind a fence but they were there to see her and the children get off the jet that came in on.

"Mercy, Mercy, over here Mercy," the people with the cameras called out.

Raven hid her face in Grandma Linda's arm. Koda didn't seem all too scared as he watched the world around him change. Mercy carried him and they got into a black SUV on the tarmac where her father's private jet had landed.

"I hope they don't follow us." Vince said as he put Koda in a booster seat.

Raven was buckled in next to him. The driver soon left as police officers escorted them out.

"We'll be home soon." Mercy's mother said.

Linda reached over the back of the seat and touched Raven's hair, something she had been doing anytime Mercy was within reach. Raven pulled away from the grandmother's touch, much as Mercy had done in her younger years.

"She'll come around." Mercy said as she rested a hand on Raven's head. "She doesn't know you guys."

"You never told them about us?" Vince asked.

"I wasn't allowed to talk about you, the family or the business. Ernie said that you were as good as dead to me, whatever that meant. I thought he meant he had killed you. He said he would. I told the police this along with other things. I guess they didn't tell you."

Linda made a strangled sound. Vince remained awfully quiet.

"A man called, using Paul's phone the other day." Mercy said. "He had a funny accent and said he was Sheamus."

Her father turned towards her mother. She didn't know what was so unusual about it but they must have thought something was off.

"You talked to Sheamus?" Vince asked.

Mercy nodded. "He seemed nice. I thought Paul was calling your phone after you left for food."

"I'm sure Paul will be there when we get back. Shane, too. He and Marissa will no doubt be bringing their sons."

In the last couple of days, Mercy had learned a lot about her family. Stephanie and Paul had married in 2003 and had three daughters. Shane and Marissa, though already married by the time Mercy left, had three boys. All together, her parents had four grandsons and four granddaughters.

"How are you doing, Mercy?" Vince asked.

She looked at him. "I'm tired."

Raven leaned over and put her head on her mother's arm. The girl hadn't said anything, she didn't talk about Vince or Linda and Mercy didn't mind. Koda would say stuff but mostly asking Mercy questions about things he didn't understand. Though he did have a fondness for a word search game Linda had shown him.

"You can take a nap when we get home." Linda said.

Mercy watched the city go by, places that she thought she remembered. The library she frequented was still there, along the main drive in Greenwich, Connecticut. They wound their way through the area, heading up north on the ritzier side of town, an area surrounded by woods and a lot of nature stuff.

The crows cawed as the group got out of the SUV in front of a house that had once been Mercy's home. Maybe it wasn't all that bad, considering the welcome she got. The front door opened and out came Shane. He had gone grayer, he looked older but there was still the old Shane look in him that Mercy remembered.

"Shane!" Mercy yelled, dropped Raven's hand and ran up to her older brother.

He was there to scoop her up in his arms, pulling her into a hug that took the air out of her.

"Sissy, you came back." Shane said in her ear as he ran a hand over the top of her head.

"I missed you so much, Shane." She pulled back and looked at his hair. "You went gray."

He laughed as a tear fell down his face. "I want to say it's your fault but it's not. I look older than Dad."

"Yeah, you do." She agreed.

He laughed again before pulling her into another hug.

Mercy saw her sister-in-law walk out of the house, flanked by three boys, all of whom owned the trademark brown McMahon hair. Marissa was still beautiful as ever. But, like pretty much everyone else she had been crying.

"Momma, who is he?" Koda asked from behind her.

Pulling away from her brother, Mercy found that Koda was standing nearby. He was looking at Shane, though Raven was more interested in the birds that still cawed overhead.

"Shane, this is Koda, and that's Raven. My children."

Raven walked up to her mother, held her hand and looked at Shane. "Hi." The girl said.

"Hi, kiddos." He knelt down so that he was eye level with the two of them. "I'm your Uncle Shane."

"Hi." Koda waved and smiled.

"Hi." Raven said in a whisper this time.

"You must be lucky, she hasn't spoken to us." Vince said.

"Everything's new to her, Dad. She'll get used to the family." Shane stood up.

"Hi, I'm your nephew Declan. That's Kenny and that's Rogan." A boy in his teen years said as he walked up. "We made you a cake."

"Not chocolate, right?" Mercy asked.

"No, ma'am." The boy said. "Vanilla with strawberry icing. Grandma said that was your favorite."

She nodded as she ran her thumb over Raven's hand. Raven was studying Declan closely, along with the two other boys.

"Hey, Mercy." Marissa said.

"Hi." Mercy tried to smile.

The cawing had died down. Linda instructed for Shane to take the bags inside for Mercy and her kids.

"Where's Paul?" Mercy asked.

"He's coming later, he's still got things to do." Vince said.

Ever since talking to Sheamus, she hadn't heard from Paul at all. She wondered if he had been busy with the company, as it seemed he was a main thing in the shows. Raw and SmackDown, two brands she hadn't heard too much about. It seemed like everything changed since she had been away.

Her Mom took her to her old bedroom, which was located at the back of the house where she could look into the woods. It didn't look different, though some of the wrestler posters had faded over the years. She still had the wrestler Raven tacted up next to her desk, and DX was hiding behind the door where she had left them. Mercy's bed was made and sitting in the middle of the room. Front and center along the main wall were Bret Hart and Owen Hart.

"We didn't change it." Linda said as she came up behind Mercy.

"But everything has changed." Mercy said. "When Owen died, I thought I had died. I was alone again until Raven came along."

"Owen's death was an accident, you know that."

"No, Ernie killed him."

She was staring at the picture of Owen Hart, her heart jamming in her chest. Fresh tears started to fall.

"Owen was sick, he wouldn't stop crying. Ernie picked him up and shook him. He killed Owen. Owen died twice. He died as Owen Hart and Owen Dickson. When Ernie found out that I named him Owen after a wrestler he was even madder. He beat me and didn't stop for a whole hour."

She heard her mother crying, yet again. She had told the police this, had told them where her Owen had been buried. But now it was like her mother didn't know that. Had the police told her parents anything about what had happened? As she turned she saw that behind her mother were her Dad and Shane. They had gone paperwhite as Linda continued to cry.

"He thinks I named Raven after the bird. It's kind of true, but he didn't know that."

Raven came in, stopped to look at everything there was. Koda came in as well, but he headed to the window to look out while Raven went and sat on the bed.

"Seasons can change, I guess I should, too." Mercy said, as she wiped her eyes.

She reached up and began taking the tacks out of the posters in front of her. First Owen came down, followed soon by his brother's poster.

"Can I play now?" Koda asked.

Mercy looked at him as she rolled up the posters. "Sure, Koda. Raven?"

"No." She said as she rocked on the bed as she played with the pattern in the comforter.

"Can you watch him, Shane? Show him how to throw baseballs like you did with me." Mercy asked her brother.

"Sure, Sissy. Come on, Kiddo. I think Grandpa Vince left some baseballs in the closet downstairs." Shane said motioning for Koda.

Mercy went back to taking down all her old childhood posters, even WCW Raven poster next to her desk had to come down. The group had left Mercy to be by herself, with Raven on the bed not really doing much of anything.

The posters were the first things to go. Followed by the old cloths that Mercy could no longer fit into. She put those in a garbage bag. Taking care of these things were the easy part. Raven got bored easily.

"Momma," her daughter half whispered. "Can I go out to play now?"

"And what do you want, sweetie?" Mercy walked up to the bed.

"I want to go home."

"This is your home."

"But I don't know these people."

Mercy thought for a second, then nodded. "Lets go find out who they are. I don't know them either. But if Koda likes the boys then I don't think there's anything wrong with talking to Aunt Marissa."

She got a nod from Raven. They both left the safety of the bedroom and headed downstairs. Mercy found her mother, father and Marissa in the kitchen talking over coffee.

"Hi." Mercy said.

"Oh, hi, Mercy. How is everything going?" Linda asked.

"I finished putting things up to get rid of, like cloths that I don't fit."

"We'll have to go clothes shopping." Marissa said. "You know, like what we did as a girls day out."

"Raven and Koda will need new clothes as well. So how about when you and the boys are free we can go out together. Gives the kids time to get to know each other."

"Oh, that would be great. We can do it this Saturday." Marissa smiled.

Raven hid to the right and behind Mercy's legs. Mercy put a hand on her head, smiled at her and looked at her family.

"It feels strange being back again." Mercy admitted. "I don't know what to do. But can we start by letting Raven know you guys. Just don't get mad at her if she doesn't talk." She looked at her father for that one.

"I'll just let you guys talk. I have to contact Steph and tell her what's going on. I have to be back at work on Monday and Tuesday." Vince stood up.

As he neared Mercy, she allowed him to touch her shoulder, but he didn't look at her. He left her with her sister in law and mother.

"Well, lets sit down talk. Would you like some milk and cookies, Raven?" Linda asked.

At least Raven nodded as she went to go take a seat next to Marissa at the table.

"And Paul will be here later tonight. It's Monday, but at least the show is down in New York." Marissa said.

She would just have to wait for Paul a few more hours. In the mean time she was going to listen to the new stories about her larger family.

* * *

 **Well another update for you guys. I promise it will get better because the next chapter she actually meets Seth. Much like life, the story takes a little a little detour for them to finally meet.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Seth eyed Triple H as he pulled the car into the drive of the McMahon mansion. The older man had been white knuckling the steering wheel since they left the arena that night from New York. What had meant to be Triple H dropping Seth off at his hotel was a long drive back to Connecticut, pissed off and Seth in the passenger seat the entire way. Seth knew he should have taken the ride with Roman or Dean, hell even Sheamus offered to give him a lift.

The larger man sat in the driver's seat looking at the mansion. There had been times when Seth had been brought back to the mansion, especially in his NXT days when he was rising through the ranks and becoming the first NXT Champion. Now, it was just a deathly quiet in the car for Seth. He didn't know if he should get out and head in or wait for his mentor to gather his thoughts.

"I screwed up." Paul said.

Seth remained quiet.

"I wanted to call Vince, after Sheamus had called him and learned that she was there. I wanted to talk to her, but damn it, I fucking chickened out. She's been here for two days and hasn't heard from me. How stupid is that?"

Crickets would have been heard in the car. Seth continued to stay quiet while Trips continued to vent.

"It's been seventeen years, Seth. Seventeen long damn years and I chicken out. Everything has changed for her, and still, I think out of respect for my wife, I never called back. Steph never seemed to care about Mercy, it just seemed like she had given the girl the cold shoulder because Steph was no longer the princess. And Vince, I don't think he knew what was going on."

"Sorry to hear that." Seth offered.

"Linda and Shane, they cared and in a way, Mercy adored them for not pushing her to be in the company. I mean she was fourteen at the time. Remember the skit when Stone Cold broke into the house?"

"Yeah, I do. I never saw Austin so taken with a kid before."

"They set that up a whole month in advance. It took Mercy a month to get used to people back then. Austin taught her how to talk to him, it was her indifference that put her over with the fans when she showed him the fridge drawer of beer. That was when she went to a private school."

What little Seth remembered of her one time on the air and the facts offered beyond that, she didn't like the public school she had been going to. Bullying, telling her shit about her family and that she wouldn't amount to anything like her sister. It all just forced her to drop out of school and into a private school. Even then, it was hard on her.

"You know what Vince was so mad about, prior to her abduction?" Paul asked.

"What?"

"She loved WCW. She didn't speak to him when the whole Montreal Screwjob went down. Actually I think she had a ticket to a WCW show they were having in the area at the time. She had met Bret Hart before, Raven and the likes. She was introduced to rock n roll by Jericho. I don't think there was ever a day he had to remind her not to call him Mr. Jericho."

Seth smiled.

"She liked what she liked, even if it wasn't what Vince wanted her to like. The one thing she did that he liked was The Hardy Boyz, she likes dyed hair and punk styles. I think she would have liked the asshole CM Punk if she had been around."

Trips sighed and opened his door. Seth did the same thing, only to realize that the front door to the mansion had opened.

A woman with mid back blond hair came out of the house wearing sweatpants and an old DX shirt that was like three sizes too big. In the dim lights she seemed to know who Seth was standing next to.

"Paul!" She yelled.

"My god, Mercy." Seth heard Paul with a hoarse voice.

Now he was just Paul Levesque, her Paul.

They met halfway, Paul pretty much bringing the much smaller woman into a hold Seth only saw when it came to Paul's daughters. Mercy wrapped her arms around his neck and he picked her up off the ground.

"I missed you so much, Merce." Paul said.

"Same," she said as she pulled away. "I'm glad you're here. I've wanted to talk to you since they found us."

"God, you were just a kid when you were taken. You look just like an adult version on you now."

She smiled. Seth smiled as well. How could he not? Here was Triple H hugging a person that had been taken away at the age of fourteen, upsetting pretty much the entire wrestling world. Here she was, back again. She had a fuller figure, a round face. But she was pale, and nearly Sheamus pale at that.

"Why did you get rid of your hair?" Mercy asked when Paul put her down again.

"It was time for a change." Paul said.

"You cut your hair and Shane looks like a powdered donut, that's a lot of change. And I met Shane's kids today."

"Please tell me they were nice."

"They taught Koda how to catch a baseball. It's strange to hear Koda say Uncle Shane. You'll have to get used to Uncle Paul."

"I don't mind. I've had plenty of practice from Shane's sons."

"You'll have to be careful of Raven, my daughter. She's not fond of people, at least people she doesn't know."

"You were the same earlier in your life. And you know how short of a time you had warming up to me." The big man smiled.

She did in return. But that was when she looked at Seth, who stood a respectable few feet from the two of them. He had his hoodie on but he was still wearing his ring pants and ring boots. Mercy ducked her head and glanced at Paul.

"Where's Stephanie?" Mercy asked.

"She, uh, had to deal with the girls. I'll bring them over soon, I promise. Hey, I want you to meet someone. This is Seth Rollins, I've hand picked him early in his career with the WWE. Seth, this is Mercy McMahon."

When Paul introduced them, she was playing with a ring on her left hand ring finger. She had shut down emotionally it looked like when it came to him. She didn't even bother looking at him fully, sort of looking around him. Unlike what she had been doing with Paul, Mercy was different now that she realized Seth was there.

"Nice to meet you, Mercy." Seth said.

"You, too."

"Come on, I need to see my niece and nephew." Paul cut in. "And I need to talk to Vince about something."

"Okay."

Seth followed behind them. Every once in a while she was glance back at him but would quickly look away. He didn't let it get to him. After everything that she had been through, it was okay for her to be nervous. He resigned to just being a friend of Paul's.

Inside, Seth saw a boy and a girl sitting on a couch watching television. The brown haired boy was more animated, his attention on the end of the show. The girl, almost a pitch black haired spitting image of Mercy, looked up when the three of them walked inside.

"Koda, Momma brought Uncle Paul." The girl said.

The boy turned around and looked, a big smile spread out across his face. Seth looked at Paul, who seemed taken to the sight.

"Hi, Uncle Paul." The boy yelled and ran around to meet the man.

Seth caught Mercy smiling.

"Koda Paul, he's my little bear." Mercy said.

The girl didn't run, she walked slowly. She walked up to her mother as Paul picked up the boy. Both Koda and Raven were small, almost sickly small. Tiny. But Koda was obviously more outspoken than his mother and sister.

"The red man hurt you." Koda said when he looked at Seth.

"Koda." Mercy spoke up.

"It's okay, Merce. All kids get excited." Paul said. "This is Seth Rollins, Koda."

"Hey, little bear." Seth said waving awkwardly.

Seth didn't have a great deal of expertise when it came to kids. He'd been around Roman's daughter, and Paul's girls but none of them had seemed interested in him. Not like Koda was. And Koda laughed when Seth called him little bear.

"Raven," Mercy put her hand on the slightly taller girl. "She's the oldest."

"Hi, Seth." Raven said.

He offered a smile at her. She still held her mother's hand, but Mercy was watching her intently.

"So she can talk." Vince said as he came in from the kitchen with Linda.

Almost the instant she heard her grandfather talk, she pressed herself up against her mother and refused to look at him.

"Dad." Mercy looked back at him.

"Hey, she hasn't said a word to us." Vince raised his voice.

"Vince, stop. Okay, just stop." Paul interjected as he put Koda down. "Now isn't the time for jumping on a little kid."

Was Vince really that mad at Raven for not speaking to him, Seth thought. From what he heard, Mercy was the same way in her younger years. Though maybe it was because Mercy seemed to have a better bond with Paul than with any other people. Of course there was Shane, who was pretty much big brother and father to her. Again, that's what he had heard.

"I need to talk to you, Vince." Paul said. "Hey, Rollins, entertain Mercy and the kids for a little okay?"

"Sure, I guess." It wasn't like he had anywhere else to be at the moment. Paul still had the keys to the rental.

Paul ushered both Vince and Linda back into the kitchen, which left Seth with a fidgety Mercy, Koda who seemed interested in him and Raven, who was staring at him with large blue eyes.

"Let's sit down." Seth said.

He let Mercy guide the kids back to the couch, where she flipped off the television. Raven waited for him to sit down before she sat about two feet from him. Koda was on his right and Mercy was sitting in an overstuffed chair next to the couch.

The television was on the channel that Raw and SmackDown were aired on. Mercy took the remote and shut off the television before she sat down on a nearby recliner.

"Did you watch Raw tonight?" Seth asked as he looked at Mercy.

"Yes, we're trying to figure out who is performing now. Tomorrow we'll do the same with SmackDown, and then that NXT thing and whatever 205 Live is. I'm surprised they actually like it." The corner of Mercy's mouth quirked up.

"I'm sure Vince likes the idea of them watching the shows."

"Well he didn't ask me to show them. Raven asked what the WWE is and I guess they like it."

"Who was the red guy that beat you up?" Raven asked out of left field.

"His name is Sheamus." Seth said. "And he's Irish."

"He's the man I talked to on the phone. The irishman." Mercy ran her fingers through her hair. "Yeah, I talked to him on the phone. I thought he was Paul."

"If you like pale skinned guys that look like a lumberjack clowns, yeah he's okay." Seth said. "But he's a good guy. He loves kids."

Mercy played with the ring on her finger. She looked towards him again then over at Raven who was turned sideways on the couch and looking at him, too.

Koda yawned, so did Raven. It should have been their bedtimes anyway.

"Sometimes I wonder what things wouldn't be this way, you know." Mercy said. "What if I hadn't gone away? What would my life be like now. Ernie is still out there, somewhere. The police are doing what they can, but I still feel alone."

"You're not alone. You have your family with you." Seth said.

"Yeah, I guess." She said in a quiet tone.

"You don't think you do?"

"Growing up, I was never able to click with my Dad and sister. I thought I wasn't loved by them, but then I have my mom, Shane, Marissa and of course Paul to fall back on. Then when I started to get better, I started going to shows. It's where I found my fascination with Bret and Owen Hart. They were nice to me, they didn't treat me bad for being Vince McMahon's daughter. And then it was all taken away from me."

Seth opened his mouth but he had to look to his left as the top of Raven's head brushed up against his leg. She was curled up in a ball to one side, and Koda was leaning on the armrest at the other side of the couch.

"I only had them for company." Mercy said as she looked at her children. "I taught them what I could, not having any school passed fourteen years old. I had to keep quiet about the family and the business because Ernie would get mad. So I just talked to a stuffed deer head."

She went back to playing with the ring again. She crossed her legs and looked between Koda and Raven.

"No one should ever have to go through any of that, Mercy." Seth finally had the courage to say.

And she looked at him. Right at him, in the eyes for the first time. Her eyes were big and strange shade of blue but they held something in them that even he couldn't pinpoint.

"You're nice to talk to." Mercy said as she looked away. "Maybe it's from knowing who Paul knows, I tend to like people he seems to trust. Well, except for HBK."

"What's wrong with HBK?"

"He treated me like a little kid, or someone who didn't know anything. At least Jericho tried, showing me his music collection so I could find something that I liked. At least we could talk about music, what little I did know. Then there is Bret Hart, well was."

"What drew you to him?"

"I don't know. When he was around, he just accepted me. Please don't tell Paul or Dad this, but he taught me how to run the ropes."

"Really?" Seth lifted his brow.

"Yeah, I mean, I was sort of interested but I have issues with crowds of people. One day, when they were in the area, I went down and saw Bret in the ring. This was before Owen died. He was warming up. He realized who I was and asked me if I had ever been in the ring."

She continued, telling how she talked to Bret. He showed her the ropes, pun intended as she said it. Mercy being small, had to use the second rope to pivot off of. After a few rounds from one side to the next, she was leaning in the turnbuckle and Bret was telling her about the world of wrestling until his brother and some of the other Harts showed up.

"Do you know a Natalya Neidhart?" Seth asked.

"A girl named Nat traveled for a summer with them. But I know that she wanted to learn how to wrestle and they were teaching her the ins and outs of traveling."

"She's with the WWE right now, working on trying to win the Women's Championship title on SmackDown."

"Good for her. She was nice, I can remember that. But other stuff I don't really remember. When did WCW fold?"

"In 2003."

"That was when Owen died."

"No, he died in 1999."

"Not that Owen, Owen was my first born, before Raven. But Ernie killed him."

"Oh my god." Seth couldn't help but say that. "You three are safe now." Seth said. "He's never coming back and you're never going back. I won't let that happen, I mean..."

Seth put his hand down at his side. But he had put his hand on Raven's head, her soft hair catching him off guard. Luckily she was sound asleep. It didn't stop Seth from playing with her hair.

"Why are you so easy to talk to?" Mercy asked.

Seth looked at her. "I don't know." He answered.

"Maybe because Raven likes you." Mercy sighed as she looked at her daughter. "And Koda, they both really like you."

Paul came back in. He was red in the face, for some reason and he motioned for Seth. "Come on, kid, I'll give you the keys when we get to my place."

"Can you help me get Koda and Raven up to bed, at least?" Mercy asked.

Paul stopped at the door and then looked at Seth. He could see both of the kids sleeping on either side of him and Seth looked more than scared, probably.

"I'll be out in the car." Paul said.

"No, Paul, I meant," Mercy was cut off when Paul closed the door behind him.

Whatever happened in the kitchen was something he would have to find out from Paul.

From the sounds of it, Vince and Linda were having a heated discussion in the kitchen.

Mercy got up and easily picked Koda up from the couch. "Could you get Raven for me?" She asked.

"Sure." Seth said.

He followed her up to the room where the kids were going to be sleeping. The room looked basic, but it was big. There were boxes and stuff to the side of the door, and the bed was made up. He placed Raven in the bed and Koda was placed in the bed with her.

"They always slept in the same bed." Mercy said as she left the door open. "Thank you for the help. You should probably go."

"Yeah, I guess." He said as he followed her to the stairs.

Vince and Linda were still in the kitchen when Seth and Mercy made it to the front door. She stopped suddenly, which resulted in Seth running into her back. As she staggered he caught her hips to keep her from stumbling. She turned to look at him, her pouty lips open and her eyes wide.

"Sorry," he lifted his hands. "I was just trying to help."

"Okay." She fiddled with her ring on her left hand. "Could you tell Paul to call me later."

"Sure. I'll do that. It was nice to meet you, Mercy."

"You, too, Seth. Maybe we'll see each other again sometime." She stepped aside for him.

The conversation was going nowhere, the awkward meeting of new people was probably getting to her. Seth smiled and walked towards the door. When he looked back she was still in her spot.

"I'm sure we'll be seeing each other more, Mercy." He said before leaving.

Down in the car, Seth got in and Trips was tripping out on the phone. Just as Seth got in, Triple H tossed the phone in the backseat.

"Damn it. What the hell is wrong with them?"

"What's going on?"

"Besides the FBI being involved in Mercy's case and requesting to see her in a few days, Vince and Stephanie are telling me that we should do a segment about Mercy, having her answer questions and shit like that."

"From what I've seen, she may bolt if that was to happen." Seth said.

"Yeah, I know. Look, you can stay at my place in the guest bedroom, then we'll head out tomorrow. Sound good to you?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't mind." Seth said as he leaned back in his seat.

As Triple H was getting the car turned around, he saw Mercy standing in the window watching. There was no mistaking that hair.

* * *

 **Well, there you go. I'm trying to get enough of this story out. Because this Monday classes start up and I'll be taking an English 102 class, so I don't know how often I'll update this story during the next quarter.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"We still can't find him," the FBI detective said. "We haven't found any trace of him since you were found."

Vince, Linda and Mercy were sitting in the WWE CEO office with the FBI Detective in charge of the case. Mercy still had no idea where her husband was. The kids were with Marissa and thankfully Shane was taking control over SmackDown. Paul and Stephanie were back on the road working with the various WWE things, like Raw, NXT and 205 Live. Mercy still hadn't seen any evidence of her sister since arriving back home.

"Ma'am, do you have any idea where he could have gone?" The agent asked Mercy.

"I don't know. I don't even know where I was. All I know was that we were taken to a hospital in Fairbanks." She said.

She looked at the framed pictures on the wall of her father's office. Triple H, Stephanie, there were images like The Shield, Kane and Undertaker there as well. People she didn't know anything about. HBK, though from what Paul had told her he had reformed himself over the years.

"Ms. McMahon," the agent caught her attention. "What can you tell us about Ernest Dickson, what was he like, anything that could help us figure out where he could be?"

"He didn't like the windows being exposed so they had to be covered up. Only recently he started letting light come through. He did take me to one place a few times, but it was in the summer. He took us to a lake, I don't know where but he kept me inside while he went out to teach Koda and Raven to ID bear tracks. There was a red cabin we stayed in. But that was two summers ago. He barricaded us again in the house after that."

The agent took down what she had said. "Thank you. I'll pass this on to Alaska Patrol, maybe they know something."

"Is there anything else that you need?" Linda asked.

"Do you want the child's body brought back. We found it where Ms. McMahon had told us."

So they did find Owen's body under the tree, with the cross scratched into the trunk to mark his grave. Mercy lowered her head as she thought back to that point in her life only to fee sick all over again. Memories of her looking out the window at the tree from the kitchen any time she thought of him.

"Yes." Vince said. "We've set up a plot in our cemetery."

The agent nodded. "Has publicity been a problem? Do you need some added help with that?"

"No, we have a private security contractor helping out." Vince said.

"Okay. Well let us know if you need any help with keeping her and her kids safe."

Mercy stared at Seth's picture, which was hung up next to Sheamus' framed picture. They couldn't have been two different men. Seth was dark and dangerous, Sheamus was bright and just as dangerous looking.

When the FBI agent left them alone, seeing himself out, Mercy continued looking at the pictures on the walls. There were a lot of people she didn't know, not that she was willing to go out and meet them. For all she knew, the cameras were outside waiting for her to leave the same way she went into the building. At least this time Koda and Raven weren't with her.

"Mercy," Linda spoke up. "Sweetie, do you want to go talk to someone? We can help you with that?"

"Talk about what?"

"Everything. I mean, what you went through while you were kidnapped." Her mother said.

She shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"You haven't been sleeping well in the last couple of days. That's why we're talking about this." Vince said. "We don't want you to feel you're alone in this."

"I spent the better part of seventeen years alone. I don't think it will kill me if I don't go talk to someone about it."

"Maybe get you and the children into therapy would help you to open up." Vince said.

"I said I would go see a therapist, isn't that enough?"

"It would be beneficial for you to be better so you can come…" Vince started to say.

"No." Mercy looked at her father. "I am never going to be part of this company. I don't want anything to do with it."

"Think about what you could do." Vince said.

"Honey, stop. If she doesn't want to do anything right now, don't force her. She's been forced enough, don't you think?" Linda asked.

Vince stopped talking. Mercy ended up rocking in the desk chair she had been sitting in. Mercy refused to look at her father, opting to continue looking at all the people on the walls. She was slowly learning to know who these people were. For some reason her father liked the wrestler known as Roman Reigns, only because he was a second generation wrestler. Then there was that weird guy Dean Ambrose, she didn't know anything about him except for in a way he acted like Ernie.

"Mercy," Vince said. "Take as much time as you need. But I want you to do this. If you could move forward in your life, you could be everything that I have wanted you to be…" she cut him off again.

"No one asks me what I want. And right now I want to be left alone." She stood up and half ran to the door.

Linda called out to her but Mercy left. Hot tears fell down her face, she kept looking for a way out. There were a lot of doors and as her heart sped up, and breathing became harder she couldn't find a way out. The entire place was different, it was new, it had changed and she didn't know where she could go.

"Lass?" She heard a familiar voice say.

* * *

Sheamus had come to the WWE headquarters to talk about the new angle he and Cesaro were going to be doing. There had been some development with their new ring attire and was asked to drop by before he headed out to Pennsylvania.

What he hadn't expected to walk in on was Mercy McMahon crying as she came out of a hallway.

"Lass?"

She looked up at him, and she was hyperventilating. Tears fell down her face as she looked around, hands going to her hair and then the sob came out of her mouth.

"It's okay, Lass." He tried at a vain attempt to calm her down.

Mercy looked up at him. "I don't want to do this, I don't want anything to do with this."

He started to reach out but she jerked away. Sheamus let his hand hang out there, palm open as a way of showing her he wasn't going to hurt her.

"What do ya want to do?" He asked.

"I don't want to be in the company. But Dad wants me to. He doesn't care," she began to cry fully. "He never cared."

"Oh, Mercy." He said.

Sheamus motioned for her to sit down at the lobby chairs. She sat down, her hands covering her face. The twinkle of the gold colored band on her left hand ring finger caught his attention. But he focused on her.

"You're okay now." He said leaning forward to look at her. "You're okay with me."

She was a small thing, near as pale as him and so emotional. It tore at his heart to hear her mewling, fingers rubbing at the insides of her arms.

"Lass, please stop crying."

"I can't! I'm not back two weeks and my Dad wants me to get mentally cleared so I can show up on television. Why? Why does he want to do this to me?"

"I don't know." Sheamus said. "I didn't know any of that, to be honest. Maybe that's why Trips is so pissed right now."

"Trips? Oh, you mean Paul. A lot of people call him Trips or Triple H. But he was always Paul." She wiped at her eyes. "You don't sound like my Dad or Paul. You're actually nice."

He smiled. "Thanks, I take pride in that."

"You look different outside of the ring. Your cloths. You look," she shook her head as she wiped at her face. "You just look different."

He was thankful for wearing the flat cap, jeans and a vest over his button up shirt. Maybe that was why she wasn't afraid of him.

"Do you know many of the superstars?" He asked as he kept his voice low.

"I've only met you and Seth Rollins."

"You've met Seth Rollins?"

She nodded. "Raven warmed up to him. I think my Dad's jealous. She hadn't spoken for the days that they had been around. They saw you beat up Seth Rollins."

"I'm sorry if I scared them."

"No, but Koda seemed to like it. He doesn't really know anything about races, or ethnicity. So he called you the Red Man."

"Red Man, that sounds quite accurate." He smiled then lifted up his hat. "See, red."

She smiled. Though she offered a strangle laugh but she at least smiled.

Mercy then frowned. "I need therapy. I have to get better. But, how can I when all anyone wants are the details of what happened while I was away? Why can't people just leave me alone?"

"I can't answer that for ya, lass. I wouldn't know what it is like to be in your position."

She twirled that ring away, but Mercy was looking at a spot off in the distance in front of her. Even though he was leaning close, he couldn't tell what she could possibly be thinking. With Vince as her father, it could have been anything.

"What are you thinking about, Mercy?" He asked.

"I had one son, before Raven and Koda. I named him Owen but he died. I told the police where we had buried him. My parents are burying him in the family plot."

He touched the back of her shoulder, though she flinched she didn't outright pull away. "I'm so sorry, Mercy." He said.

"I keep thinking Dad wants to make that into something for the show. A little boy died. My father was big about showing off stuff like that when I was around before. I don't want to disrespect my son."

"Would you like me to talk to Paul and see if he can talk Vince out of it?"

"You'd do that?" She asked, looking him in the eyes this time.

"Yes, I would."

"Please?" She sat straighter as she looked at him.

"Of course." He rubbed her back. "Of course."

"Mercy," Linda McMahon said coming out from the hallway. "There you are. I thought you had left."

"Sheamus stopped me from having a panic attack." Mercy said as the older woman came to sit on the other side of her. "I couldn't leave even if I wanted to."

Sheamus stood up when Vince appeared in the waiting area. Vince's gazed flicked to him before looking back at Mercy.

"Can I go home yet?" Mercy asked.

"Of course. I'll have the driver pull up. Thank you, Sheamus. Thank you for sitting with her."

"No problem, Mrs. McMahon." He said.

"Come on, Mercy." Linda helped her stand up. "Let's go home."

"Thank you for talking to me, Sheamus." She said.

"I'd like to do it some more but I'm not going to push it, Lass."

She smiled at him. When she lifted her chin to look at him, the scars around her neck became obvious. Had Seth seen them, too? He forced a smile, offered a wave as Linda escorted Mercy away.

"Thanks for not letting her get away." Vince said.

"Sure," Sheamus said as he took his hat off. "Everything is getting to her, I suppose."

"Still, thanks, Sheamus. I think we have a meeting to get on with."

Sheamus nodded. Unsure of what else to do, let alone say, he followed Vince back to his office to get what he came for done.

* * *

 **Yay, another update done. Looks like Sheamus had his turn to hang out with Mercy.**

 **I forgot to thank you guys for reading and responding to what I've been doing. It feels weird getting back in the game again after leaving a few years ago.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Momma, look at that guy." Koda pointed at the television.

Mercy looked away from the front window. There had been someone trying to get a look over the high wall, until a security guard intervened and pulled him away.

"Look at who?" Mercy asked as she walked back towards to her kids.

Koda pointed at the television. "C E N A, what does that spell, Momma?"

"Cena. His name is John Cena." Mercy said. "Uncle Paul talks about him. Do you like him?"

"He's okay." Koda answered. "But do you see his arms? They are big."

What little she knew of John Cena, he had large arms, pretty much like Paul. The fans either loved him or hated him. Cena Sucks seemed to be a staple with a lot of the fans at the live shows.

The show went to commercial after Cena's speech and Koda sat back down to wait for the show to come on. The ottoman was his seat so he could get up to move as he watched the show.

Raven was sitting on the couch and had been watching the show much as her brother had. She didn't get as excited as Koda did. At about that moment the scene changed as new entrance music came on. It was a familiar music she had heard before.

The Shield came down through the crowd to the ring. Seth led the way, Dean was in the middle and Roman Reigns bringing up the rear. The fans were going nuts, much as her own son was as he pretty much danced in front of the large television.

"Seth," Raven sat up.

"Yeah, it's Seth. Go, Seth." Koda jumped, pumping his little fist in the air.

Mercy smiled when Raven stood up and went over towards where her brother was standing. Though she didn't jump around like Koda did, she was transfixed on the television.

It surprised her that her children would like Seth so much. Ever since his visit two weeks ago, and the occasional call from Paul every other day, the two kids were all about Seth every Monday.

As the Shield got to the ring, it was what caught Mercy's attention that bothered her. As Seth walked around the outside of the ring she felt her mouth dry up. No matter how many times she had seen Seth, his ring pants always hugged his legs. His arms bulged under his shirt and his hair hung about his shoulders wet. He was appealing to look at, and that was what made her panic.

She panicked more when she looked at Finn Balor as he was the one smiling at the camera. He had come out just after the two men he was competing with, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. Her eyes fell on Finn and his leaner body, then she licked her lips.

This was new to Mercy. Ernie been a different type of man. He wasn't that tall but he was fat. A big man with a big stomach. Ernie had a beard, but it wasn't like Seth's. Seth who was much, much younger and better looking than her husband. When Ernie officiated their marriage, he at least wore some nice pants. But Seth wasn't wearing a shirt, and the time she had met him he was wearing a jacket. It was worse when Finn had come on, he had trunks on.

Mercy ran her fingers through her hair. She only tugged harder when seeing that it was Seth and Finn that locker up in the middle of the ring for the start of the match. Much like the fans, Koda was going nuts. Raven was standing there with her hands balled into fists.

Everything was going good until a third set of music came on, interrupting the match.

"The Red Man!" Koda called out.

Sheamus and had tag partner Cesaro came down to the ring, for what reason she didn't know. But a bell was rung when Cesaro broke into the ring and attacked Roman and Dean. Mercy held her breath as Sheamus went after Seth.

"No, Seth!" Raven yelled as she stomped her foot.

Mercy touched her daughter's shoulder. "Remember, they are performers. They are acting like they hate each other." Mercy reached out and rubbed Raven's back.

"He's okay? Seth is okay, right Momma?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, he's fine. I promise."

"Call Uncle Paul, ask him if he's okay." Raven said. "Nanna! Nanna!" She yelled.

Linda came into the front room. "What? What's wrong?"

Raven turned to her grandmother. "Is Seth okay, Nanna?"

Linda looked at Mercy and then at the television. Seth was hobbling a little as he fought back against the red haired Irishman. He was limping on his right leg as he pushed Sheamus away before the Irishman laid him out with a large punch.

"Yes, sweetie, he's fine. You know they are acting, right? They are pretending."

"Call Uncle Paul. Ask him if Seth is okay." The girl pleaded with Mercy.

"Oh sweetie."

"Look, Sissy." Koda pointed. "Look at that. There's Uncle Paul."

Sure enough Paul, or Triple H as he played, came out on the stage. He set it straight for the three groups that were down there. What storyline they were working on was not clear, it had something to do with tag belts and the IC Title that Seth and Finn were both going after. Whatever was going on, there was going to be a match at that the next weeks Raw episode.

"I'm glad they are not making an angle with you involved." Linda said. "I've been curving phone calls left and right."

"I'm sorry." Mercy said.

"I'm not. Mercy, none of this is your fault. What happened to you, no one should ever have to go through. And you're stronger than most. You have no idea how strong you are right now."

"Raven and Koda will have to go to school."

"They'll be home schooled, that isn't a problem. At least until all of this blows over. I'm still surprised they haven't found Him, yet."

"Ernie was always good at disappearing."

Linda didn't say anything. At least for a little bit. As the show went off the air. Raven had calmed down and Koda prattled on about stuff he had seen to his sister.

Koda held Raven's hand and smiled. "Seth is big, Sissy. The Red Man won't take him down. No, he is like, like, those action people. Whoosh, he flies. Can't keep Seth down."

"Okay, both of you. It's time for bed." Linda said.

"All right, Nanna. Come on, Sissy. You can read me that book." Koda said. "The one about the wizard boy."

Raven looked at Mercy. "Call Uncle Paul, Momma. Please?"

"I will. Okay, I will." She brushed her hair out of her face. "I'll call Uncle Paul soon."

"My phone is in the kitchen." Linda said before she ushered the kids towards the stairs.

Flipping off the television, Mercy stood up and headed for the phone in question. She was going to do this for her daughter's sake. Even though trying to explain the family's company the best for a six year old and a four year old, Mercy knew how important it was to learn the company. She herself began learning a lot about the people who performed in the WWE.

People like John Cena, Randy Orton, there was someone named Kevin Owens that was making a splash through with the fans. Of course there was Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, and their lunatic friend Dean Ambrose. There was the occasional appearance of Chris Jericho. That was as much as she was caught up on. Whoever Bray Wyatt was, had sent both Koda and Raven running for the safety of their room until Mercy had gone to tell them that he was off the television.

She found Paul's number and pressed the talk button.

"Hello, Mom." Stephanie said when answering Paul's phone.

"It's me, Stephanie."

"Oh. What do you need, Mercy?"

"Is Paul around?"

"He's talking to Seth Rollins about something right now."

Mercy ran her hand over her face. "Raven got scared and thought Seth was really hurt after his fight with Sheamus."

"You're letting your daughter dictate who you call?"

"She's six years old, she's never heard of wrestling. Of course she's worried. Didn't your daughters get scared when Paul seemed to get hurt on television?"

"At least my daughters were raised…" her sister was cut off.

"Hi, Mercy." Paul's voice came over the phone. "I'll call you back in a little bit."

Before she had a choice in the matter the line cut out. Mercy stared at the object in her hand before putting it down on the counter.

Of course it had gone exactly how most of everything else in her life with her sister went. Stephanie didn't make any qualms about pointing out how different the two sisters were from each other. Even back when she was fourteen, Mercy remembered the snide comments Stephanie would say about her to anyone that would listen.

"Honey?" Linda came back in. "What's wrong?"

"Is Stephanie the reason why I haven't seen my nieces yet?" Mercy asked as she looked at her mother.

Linda sucked in a breath. Well, Mercy decided, that she at least had something right.

"Do they even know about me?" Mercy asked.

"Yes, they do. Paul talks about you a lot. It's just your sister," Linda started to say.

"She wished I'd never come back." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"It's not like that. Not like that at all."

"Then tell me what it is? At least tell me, Mom. Why does Stephanie hate me? Is it because of my social issues, my weird and unpopular interests in people? Was it favoring WCW before I went away? What is it that reason she hates about me?"

"I don't know, Mercy. I don't know." Linda put her hand on top of Mercy's. "But I made her promise to come to the funeral for Owen. She has to bring the girls, and there is going to be a family memorial afterwards."

"No cameras?"

"I can't promise that. They'll stay outside of the cemetery, I promise. They won't try to ask you questions, they won't try to bother you." Linda squeezed her hand.

The phone rang, prompting Linda to pick it up before Mercy.

"Hi, Paul. Yes, she's right here." Linda gave her the phone.

"Hi, Paul." Mercy said when she answered.

"I'm so sorry about that, Mercy. I really am."

"We all know how she thinks about me. But I called because Raven got worried about Seth Rollins in the show. She thought Sheamus really hurt him."

She heard Paul laugh. "So Koda and Raven like Seth that much?"

She heard something going on in the background, what it was she wasn't sure. She heard muffled voices but that was about it.

"Tell her that he's fine." Paul said.

"I will, thanks."

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay, I guess. I think Mom mentioned that I'll see your girls when Owen is buried again."

"Speaking of that, a few of the guys want to come and pay their respects for your loss. Not the entire locker room, just a few."

"Whatever, I don't care."

"Mercy, everything's going to be fine. Shane will be there, he and the boys, Marissa, everyone is there to support you and the kids."

"I know. I'm just, I don't even know anymore."

"Like I said, everything will be fine. I promise, Merce."

"Love you, Paul." She said.

"Love you, too, Merce. I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye."

"Yeah."

They ended the call as Linda rubbed Mercy's back. "See, everything's fine." Linda said.

"For now, at least."

* * *

Seth was toweling off his neck when the Trips' phone rang. Triple H stopped talking when Stephanie picked up the phone.

"Hi, Mom." She said. "Oh, what do you want Mercy?"

Seth saw Triple H straighten up in height. The tone that Stephanie used didn't sound like she missed her sister over the last seventeen years.

"You're letting your daughter dictate who you call?" Stephanie asked, her voice raising ever so slightly.

"Steph," Triple H started to say but she waved her hand at him.

She listened to whatever Mercy said. Seth stood up taller as she turned to look at him, her evil face squarely on him. Whatever Mercy said made the older woman even angrier.

"At least my daughters were raised…" but she was cut off.

"Hi, Mercy." Triple H said when he took the phone from Stephanie. "I'll call you back in a little bit." He hung up and turned towards Stephanie. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"All of this is freaking annoying, she's annoying. She's needy and clingy and all you seem to care about is her. I'm your wife, Paul. You have daughters, this company is ours to control. If we let her in, it will ruin everything."

"I love my little sister, Steph. I love her as much as I love my own girls. But you're just jealous."

"I'm jealous?" She nearly let out a banshee scream. "I'm jealous!"

"Yeah. Because it is all about Mercy. But what did you do before she was kidnapped, huh, you belittled her for being afraid of the spotlight, of the bullshit she went through with school. She was scared..."

"She was being a fucking baby!"

"Go, Stephanie. I don't want to see you tonight. I don't want to deal with you right now." Triple H pointed to the office door. "Go."

"No. I'll wait for you at the hotel, Paul, but we're not done with this." She picked up her purse and stormed off, had the door worked she would have slammed it behind.

"Shit," Triple H cursed.

"You should call Mercy back." Seth said.

"I will. But I wanted to talk to you about something, Seth."

"Sure, what is it?"

"The funeral for Owen McMahon is coming up this Sunday. I would like for you to come, at least out of respect for Mercy and the kids. They like you."

"I've only met them once. I mean, if that's what you want but I barely know them."

"They watch Raw almost religiously, Seth. Hell they watch all the shows. Linda tells me that Koda and Raven root you on. I bet that's the reason why Mercy called."

He looked at his feet. "I don't know, man. I mean, sure I guess. Because the kids seem to like me, I don't know why they do. I've never been a kid magnet before."

"It's not just the kids that like you, Linda says Mercy is watching the shows as well. Here, I'll show you."

Seth watched Triple H call Mercy back. He listened as his mentor talked Linda and Mercy.

"So Koda and Raven like Seth that much?" Triple H asked, the corners of his mouth turning up.

"Son of a bitch." He ran his fingers through his unruly hair. "Really, man? Sorry, I have to get some air. Call me when you have the details for the funeral."

He left with a heaviness on his chest. Raven wanted to know if he was okay? Sure Jojo did that with Roman but no kid called to check up on him.

"Damn it, what am I going to do." He asked as he walked into the partially empty locker room.

Maybe an after show jog would help clear his head.

* * *

 **I hope you guys liked this update. I'll be back when I can.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

He kept his promise, Seth went to the funeral out of respect for Mercy and her children.

Seth had only ever been to one other funeral in his life and that was for his grandfather. Now he was driving a rental towards a church he had never been to in Greenwich, Connecticut. There were other cars there in the parking lot, but there had been the media, too. More than likely trying to catch a glimpse of Mercy and her kids.

Luckily he was able to get in with no trouble and sat in his rental for a little bit. Dean wasn't there for obvious reasons, neither was Roman. It was just him. Seth had come at the request of Triple H and there was no way he was going to back out of a promise.

But this funeral was for a little boy that was killed by a freak of nature guy, the bastard. Trips had told Seth that Owen Michael McMahon had been named after Bret Hart's brother, as a coping mechanism. Mercy had just started seeing a therapist and Paul said that she was doing better.

Someone tapped on the window. Looking out, he saw Sheamus there where a black suit and a black newsboy cap.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Seth mumbled.

Sheamus waited for him to get out of the car. "I was wondering if ya had decided to skip the service."

"No. I was just thinking about stuff."

"About her?" Sheamus asked.

"Do you know how's she's doing?"

"Nah, Trips ain't told me anything. Just asked that I be here, for her sake at least. Seems we've been green lighted to be around her."

Seth nodded. The conversation ended as they headed into the tall Catholic church.

Towards the front of the church there was an area where the casket was going to be. People were sitting around, people who mattered most to the McMahon family.

The woman standing up, wearing a casual black dress, was talking to someone. When she looked at them, Seth sucked in a breath. It was Mercy. Her hair hung freely down her back and instead of heels, she wore flats. Seth had to swallow the lump in his throat and shift when she looked at the two of them, rooted in place at the entrance doors to the church. Without a word she walked towards them, and that's when the family and friends watched.

"Why are you two here?" She asked.

"We've come to pay our respects, lass." Sheamus slid his cap off. "And to support you."

"I think I have all the support I can handle." Seth saw how her eyes roved over the top of Sheamus' head. "Did Paul ask you two to come?"

"Yeah, he did." Seth said. "And as friends, we have to stick together."

Maybe it was what he said, or how he said it, but what he had said made Mercy look at him. With her head tilted up, he saw the scars on her neck. He had to drop his eyes over towards where Mercy's family was sitting.

"You guys can go if you want to." She said. "I won't hold you against it. We don't even really know each other."

"Well I'm staying, Lass." Sheamus said.

"At least they had the forethought not to bring Cena here." Seth said.

She smiled, Mercy smiled. It wasn't a big one but she did nonetheless. "Is he really that bad?" She asked.

"There would have been more cameras." Sheamus said. Mercy shuddered slightly.

"How are Raven and Koda doing?" Seth asked.

"Okay. I'm going to sit with them and Mom. Stephanie still hasn't showed up yet with her daughters. Paul's not here either."

Sheamus and Seth shared a glance at each other before following Mercy up to where her children were sitting with Mr. McMahon and Mrs. McMahon. Seth sat down in a row back from them, his hope of giving the family some space. Instead what he got were two kids coming back to sit with him. He spied Vince looking at him, his wife and pretty much everyone else were looking at him. Though with Trips and Stephanie not there, he wondered how it was effecting Mercy.

It wasn't hidden from Seth that the two kids really liked him, which had culminated in Raven asking if Seth was okay after a match. Like Mercy, Raven was wearing a black dress and Koda was wearing a black bow tie suit. Mercy left her parents and went to sit on the other side of Koda, placing the kids between Seth and herself.

For the most part the small ceremony went off without much of a problem. It was the small details of Owen Michael McMahon, like how he died when he was a year old and realized how tormented Mercy must have felt. She didn't even raise her head through most of the religious ceremony, but he saw the tears trickling down her round flush cheek. It got to the point that Linda McMahon had to come back and sit next to Mercy.

By the end of the small service, they would escort the casket to the nearby cemetery.

A small hand grabbed his when he stood up. Raven didn't look at him but she did lean into him. Koda found a renewed interest in Sheamus when the older man approached.

"Hi, Red Man." The boy said.

It somehow earned a snorted laugh from Mercy, her hands coming up to cover her face as she looked at Sheamus in mild horror. Only Sheamus smiled leaning down towards the boy's level.

"Actually, it's Sheamus. I'm a friend of yer mam's."

"You talk funny." Raven said, though she had yet to relinquish Seth's hand.

"I'm Irish, I come from Ireland." Sheamus said.

"That's far away. I saw it on the globe Sissy showed me." Koda said.

Raven smiled. She had her mother's smile, which wasn't unusual considering how much they looked alike.

"Come on, we have to go." Vince spoke up.

Raven, hand in hand with Seth, walked between him and Mercy as Koda walked behind with Sheamus and the McMahons taking up the rear as they exited the church. Of course the moment they left the church the media was all over them. Although the SUV Mercy had arrived in with her family was parked out in front of the church, Seth and Sheamus had gotten into other vehicles of their own to head out to the cemetery.

* * *

At the cemetery, as Mercy watched her first son's casket get lowered into the ground, with a Priest officiating the entire thing, Mercy heard people approaching. Mercy stood with Raven on her left, who was hold Seth's hand. Koda was on her right, holding her hand but also the hand of Sheamus. The only thing that connected Mercy to either of the men were her children. Her parents were standing with Marissa and Shane and their boys to Seth's side.

Turning her head, she looked over and found Bret Hart approaching, with Paul were young three girls, all ranging in ages from eleven to four. Like pretty much everyone else at the burial site, they too were wearing black in mourning.

"Bret," she whispered only to have Seth and Sheamus turn around.

At lot of thoughts ranging from what did he think about her naming her son Owen after his brother to why would he bother to show up at all. Why was he there? Was that older woman Natalya Neidhart? Did her nieces know her at all. All of it crash in on itself in her mind as she watched the group walk up.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, may little Owen Michael McMahon rest in eternal peace with our father, the son and the holy spirit." The priest said.

The casket was buried, the dirt would be thrown on top of it and this was where Mercy's first born son was going to be laid for all eternity.

"Sorry that we're late." Paul said. He didn't elaborate on it but Mercy had a guess as to why her own sister wasn't there.

"We're going back to the house. You're invited to come, Bret." Vince said as he walked up behind Mercy.

"Nanna, I'm hungry." Raven said looking at Linda.

"I know you are. Momma needs some time to herself. We'll take the kids to the house, Paul. You can meet up afterwards." Linda said.

"Okay."

"Can Seth come, too?" Raven asked.

"And Sheamus?" Koda asked.

"Yes, they can go with you." Mercy said as she ran her hands over both of their heads. "I'll be there in a little bit."

She looked at Seth and Sheamus, both of whom shrugged. They walked away with her parents and the three little girls that looked like a mix between Paul and Stephanie. Paul and Bret, and the blond woman, were the only ones left with Mercy.

"How are you doing?" Paul asked.

"Good, I think. I don't know." She rubbed her neck, trying to find something to focus on. "I think Mom and Dad wanted my Owen's last name to be McMahon."

"He was a McMahon." Paul said.

"Not according to my husband."

Mercy saw the thick column of Paul's neck flex around the collar of his black suit. But he didn't say anything to contradict what she had said.

"But I like McMahon better. Raven Aurora McMahon, Koda Paul McMahon, they all sound better than Dickson."

"You named your daughter after your niece?" The woman asked.

"No, because the night I gave birth to her, the aurora borealis was lighting up the night sky. I thought Aurora just fit. Ernie didn't care, as long as I didn't name her after someone from my dead past." She admitted.

They fell into a silence and Mercy knew it was because of her.

"Can I give you a hug?" Bret asked.

He still had the long hair, though it was a lighter shade of black. He looked older, as anyone did when life changed beyond her control. But she nodded.

Having Bret there meant that at least she had held onto hope long enough. Even as she cried, remembering things like Owen Hart's death, then her Owen's death at the hands of Ernie, she cried. She held onto Bret's jacket, his hands cupped the back of her head and she continued to cry.

After what seemed like hours she finally had the courage to stop, thankful that she wasn't wearing makeup to have it streak down her face. And Paul was there, which was just as good to have, since her sister was being a bitch.

"Thank you." Mercy said as she wiped at her eyes. "For being here."

"Don't mention it. I brought Nattie just in case you needed someone to talk to."

"Natalya Neidhart?" Mercy looked at the blond woman.

"Yeah, I think we met when we were younger."

Mercy sniffed. "Yeah, I think I remember that, too. You were really nice to me." She wiped at her eyes again.

They had decided to go back to the house. Paul and Bret took one car and Nattie and Mercy took another. The women left first and then the men left after them, Mercy hiding her face as the media tried to get pictures of them.

By the time they got to the open road that wound its way to the McMahon house, Mercy was able to relax. This was a private neighborhood, but it still didn't mean that someone was going to try to come get pictures of her.

"Your son and daughter really seem to like Seth and Sheamus." Nattie said.

"Yeah. I guess its my fault that I didn't tell them Sheamus' name. They only knew him as The Red Man. Koda likes him, but Raven's fond of Seth."

"It's so cute, though."

"It doesn't bother me."

"That's not what I meant. I meant that for whatever reason, kids don't seem to click with Seth all too often. With Roman's daughter Jojo, she was more of an Uncle Dean kind of girl."

"They met Seth a couple of days after we got here. He was the first superstar they met, besides Paul and Shane. I don't even know why Paul brought him."

Nattie stayed quiet.

"Seth seems okay with them, which I think is a good quality." Mercy said.

"It is." Nattie said. "Children seem to know when someone is good."

"Adults don't. They think someone is one way but then that person turns out all wrong." Mercy said as she watched the trees go by.

They made it back to the house without incident. Paul and Bret waited for them to get out of the car. The four of them headed inside for the little gathering.

Most of the family was gathered in the main living room, Shane and his sons weren't there. Koda was being held in the secure grip of Sheamus and Raven was looking at an older dark haired girl that had the same annoyed look that Stephanie usually gave her.

"Are you stupid or something?" Aurora asked Raven. "Mom was right, you are retarded."

At which point Raven ran away, all the while she cried. The family had gone silent for the briefest of seconds.

"Aurora!" Linda yelled at Paul's daughter.

Mercy eyed Seth before going to find her daughter.

* * *

"What's wrong with you?" Vince demanded of his oldest granddaughter.

"Mom says that they don't know anything about wrestling. I just got tired of that girl acting stupid." Aurora said shaking her dark hair just like her mother did often.

Seth looked around, his eyes catching with Sheamus as he held Koda on one hip. Koda wiggled and Sheamus let him down, then the kid ran off after his mother and sister.

"Aurora, you're old enough to know that they were raised alone. Of course they don't know how to react or interact with people." Paul said looking down at his oldest daughter.

"Mom said that Aunt Mercy wanted to go with that man."

Even crickets stopped talking at that innocent reveal. Aurora's two sisters looked loss in translation and Seth kept glancing at the stairs.

"I'll go check on them." Linda started to say.

"No, we'll go." Seth said as he motioned between him and Sheamus. "Maybe hearing it from us will be better."

Vince didn't object, nor did Paul. No one else seemed to object to the statement.

"Maybe we should have been more forthcoming in the beginning." Sheamus said.

"Yeah, I just keep forgetting that they don't know anything about wrestling or this company." Seth said. "With the way they lived, I can only imagine what they were allowed to do."

They found Mercy in her bedroom, the room had two smaller beds in it where the children slept at night. Mercy sat on her bed, rocking Mercy as the little girl cried. Koda was standing next to the bed watching the entire thing going on.

"Sissy, don't cry." Koda said.

"She was mean," cried the little girl. "She talked like our old Daddy."

"He's not here, Raven." Mercy said as she pushed the black hair out of the girl's face. "You know that Daddy won't ever come back to hurt us."

Seth felt his heart squeeze in his chest. What had happened? What did that asshole do to them?

Mercy turned her head and saw the two men standing at the door. Seth bit his bottom lip and decided to walk in. There was no way he wasn't going to leave Mercy like this.

"Hey, guys." He said to catch the kids' attention.

"Hi." Koda said as Seth walked over to sit behind Mercy on the bed.

"What happened? What did Aurora say to Raven?" Mercy asked him.

"Raven just told her that she was worried about me getting hurt. Aurora just reminded her that it was all scripted and stuff. You heard the last of it."

"I don't want Seth hurt Momma." Raven held onto her mother's arms.

"I don't either but it's a sport, sweetie. You've been told before that what they do is dangerous but it is planned out. I felt the same with Uncle Paul."

"Really?"

Seth walked up to the bed and sat behind Mercy, leaning over to face the little girl. "Things happen in a ring, sometimes. I hurt myself not too long ago, Raven."

She wiped at her blue eyes. "Really, Seth. How?"

"My knee, I twisted it really bad and had to not wrestle. But I got better and I got back in the ring."

"It's okay to be scared for us, you know. Fans care about us all the time." Sheamus said. "And I bet Seth wouldn't mind getting a call from you because you're the first girl in a long time to really care about him. He's pretty lonely."

Seth glared at the redhead man. "I'm not lonely."

"Ya keep telling yourself that, fella. You ain't had a pretty girl worry about ya in a long time."

Not really but Seth wasn't going to mention his ex issue. Not when the small black haired girl was looking at him as she hugged her mother.

Now that Raven had calmed down, Seth reached up and rubbed the back of Raven's head, smiling at her. She smiled back. Sheamus was still there, but he had Koda's full attention for a boy that didn't sit still all too well.

There was a knock on the door and Paul walked in. "Sorry to interrupt, Mercy, guys, but the FBI agent is here to talk." Paul said from the door.

Seth saw Mercy stiffen, so he placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and then at Paul.

"I'll take them." Sheamus said. "Shane and his lads can keep us company in the game room."

"Thank you." Mercy said as she stood up.

Seth followed her out of the room, whereas Sheamus turned left and headed further down the hall to where there was noise coming from a room not too far away. Raven looked at them before following her brother and the Irishman.

"I'm sorry for what Aurora said." Paul said.

"I know she doesn't fully understand, Paul. I was the missing aunt and now here I am with cousins they don't understand." Mercy said as she led the way down the stairs.

"It doesn't negate the issue, Merce, that your sister told her those things. I love Steph, you know that. But what I don't understand is why Steph said that stuff."

Seth didn't say a word as he followed Mercy and Paul down the main stairs. He knew he had no say in the matter. Seth did hope that things would get better soon. But with Mercy being a McMahon, it was no wonder what had happened next had her nearly come unglued.

* * *

 **I tried to make this chapter as good as possible. I hope you guys liked it. I'll try for another soon, I hope.**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The FBI agent spoke with Mercy in the kitchen. Seth hadn't followed, but she could see him hanging outside the kitchen. It was Vince, Linda and Shane in the kitchen. Bret and Nattie had stayed in the front room with Marissa and some of the other guests.

"We found the place you mentioned, but he wasn't there." The agent said. "But there was evidence that someone had been there. And we're getting reports from small settlements that a bearded man has been coming in and getting supplies, fitting the description of Ernest Dickson."

"Still no arrest?" Mercy asked.

"No, ma'am. I am sorry for that. But there may be a way to go about getting him to get in contact with you." Said the agent.

"What?" The family asked together.

"Go public. Have her do a taped interview or something."

"No." Mercy said. "No." She waved her hands at that notion.

"Mercy, just think about this." Vince started to say.

"I just want to be left alone. You don't think I hear all the strange things that people say about me, or what my sister has said about me? No, I'm not going through with it."

"Mercy, just think about this." Vince tried to say.

"You know I don't like the kind of work you do. I don't want to be involved in anything that has questions. I'm still, I'm still." Her hands began to shake, her chest started to feel tight and her eyes ran with new tears. "I don't want to talk about all of this right now, I don't want people to ask me questions."

"How about they don't ask questions." Seth asked. He walked into the kitchen. "What if you just get filmed, in a room somewhere watching the show?"

She wiped her eyes.

"Care to explain your idea?" Vince asked, crossing his arms.

"It's obvious that she doesn't want to talk to anyone. It doesn't mean she can't do something. People want to see her so let them see her. Have her come to a show or something. Film her watching the show. Don't put her in skits but just make it obvious that she is in the show."

"I like the idea." Vince said, a smile starting to form on his face.

"I don't." Mercy said as she turned.

Seth's arm shot out, preventing her from leaving the kitchen. "No, you're running away this time, Mercy. Look at me." She did no matter how hard it felt to do so. "You can't live in this house forever."

She heard what he was saying, but it still was hard to believe.

Bret came into view, along with Nattie. Then she remembered why she had gone to that show, why she asked her mom to let her go. Her social issues, they were issues and they had tried to get her to go see people. Bret Hart was one of those people before he went to WCW that fought for everything no matter how scary it had been. Even though she was scared out of her mind, and looked for every possible exit when she saw him in the ring, it hadn't turned out bad like she had thought it would.

As her breathing evened out, and with Seth rubbing her arm, she looked down. "One show. I sit next to the ring or wherever but no one talks to me, no one says anything to me or does anything."

"Two shows," Vince countered. "Raw and SmackDown. Seth and Sheamus are on Raw, Nattie and Shane are on SmackDown. You'll have people with you at all times."

Mercy looked at her Dad then at her mom. "No one talks to me, no one asks questions, there isn't going to be an angle with me. Nothing. I'm just going to sit through those shows and leave afterwards."

"Agreed." Linda said. "No storylines, no nothing. I'll be here with the children. Shane is with SmackDown, Paul and Stephanie with Raw. Everything will be okay."

Just hearing her sister's name was enough to elicit a near back spasm from Mercy.

"Agreed. Can I go now, please?" Mercy asked, more so to Seth than anyone else.

He lowered his arm and she rushed by. The people in the room watched as she headed up the stairs back to her room.

* * *

"She agreed?" Sheamus found himself asking Bret and Nattie.

Seth hadn't said much but then again he was in the back with Nattie while Bret rode shotgun in the rental SUV.

They were going to split up at the airport. Nattie was going to head off to a house show, while Seth and Sheamus went on to the next Raw airing. Bret was headed home.

"Yeah. The girl is in a rough spot. They think if they announce her being at a show, it will make Dickson show up."

"For all we know he could be dead." Sheamus said.

"I'd help with the execution." Seth murmured.

Sheamus had watched Koda and Raven see Seth off after the gathering ended. He saw Mercy standing at the door watching her children hug Seth, and then Sheamus of course. Mercy thanked them for being there for her. After that the small group left.

"Can you believe what Stephanie said?" Nattie asked. "I mean I know she can be a bitch but really, saying that stuff about her own sister."

It was awful but Sheamus knew where to stand when it came to the family. It had always been best to keep his mouth shut and not pass personal judgment. But Judgment be damned, telling Aurora that Mercy willingly went with Ernest Dickson had been the worst thing to do to Mercy.

Sheamus glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw Seth's head reclined back on the seat.

He would ask Seth what was bothering him later.

The four of them got out of the rental and headed into the airport. WIth their things in tow, Nattie and Bret headed off to one direction while Seth and Sheamus headed off to another. Having ditched their suits before leaving the McMahon residence, both superstars, were able to get through security without any hassle. At least the airport was not all that busy for a Sunday.

"I have some interviews to do when we get there." Seth said.

"I have to talk to my tag partner about our place in the Raw match."

Sheamus saw something in the younger man. It was the beard scratch, something Sheamus found himself doing if he had been thinking too hard. The slow methodical scratch of the chin while staring off into space.

"You're thinking of her, ain't ya?" Sheamus asked.

"Huh?" Seth looked over at him. "What do you mean?"

"I know you're thinking about Mercy, fella. You're thinking as much as me when it came to what is going to happen when that bastard is caught. You're thinking about the kids, you're thinking about her."

"I can't believe it."

"I can."

"No, you don't." Seth half snapped. "Damn it, it hurts me to see her like this."

"Who wouldn't? I hurt for the lass as much as you. You're just being plain bitchy about it."

"I'm not bitchy about it."

Sheamus laughed. The kid scrunched up his face like Koda had done before. Though, even if Seth did look childish, it just proved what Sheamus said earlier.

"I think she appreciated us being there. I know she needed Bret the most." Sheamus said in an attempt to change the subject.

"Yeah." Seth sighed. "What do you think about this whole situation with Stephanie? Do you think things will get better between them?"

"I honestly don't know. I always thought she was an okay person, for the most part. But now, I don't even know."

"It sucks."

He couldn't disagree with that.

The two of them sat in relative silence. The overhead announcements for departing and arriving flights echoed through the terminal as they waited for their flight. Sheamus checked his phone for any texts or what was going on with Cesaro. Nothing of interest, not even social media could get his mind off of Mercy.

"They want her to take off that ring." Seth said but when Sheamus looked at him Seth was looking up at the ceiling.

"You've noticed it, too?" Sheamus asked.

"I think everyone has. But they want me to do it. On television."

"Why?"

"They think if the bastard sees me do it, then he'll come after me. And I agreed. I agreed thinking that if the heat is on me because of that, then maybe she'll get better."

"You're soft on her, fella."

Seth looked at him.

"Oh don't give me that look. Of course you are, kid. I'm just the ugly red head step uncle to them. But you, you have all their attention."

"Why? Why do I have the dubious honor of being that?"

"What did you do when you first met them?"

"We talked, I guess. She did most of the talking though. She talked about before all of this happened and stuff she had done. Nothing too distinct."

"And she couldn't do that with Trips, or her parents?"

"No, I mean, I don't know. Man, why are you making a big deal about this?"

"We weren't obligated to be there today, but we were there for her. Nattie didn't have to be there when Bret was asked to drop by. But the both of us knew why, we knew why because it would mean the world to that family if she didn't have someone there to back her up. And then you went beyond what I was willing to do."

He could only say so much. Their flight number was called for boarding, and Seth didn't give him the chance to talk. He grabbed his wheeled suitcase and headed for the boarding hall, leaving Sheamus in the dust. Sheamus didn't see Seth either way, they had different seats on the plane.

* * *

 **There you guys go. And I like to thank the people leaving comments, I really enjoy hearing from you guys. Anyway, thanks again. I'll post when I can.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Mercy, since being reunited with her family, hadn't dreamt of her husband. She never dreamt about him or anything since getting back to where her family was. She did start dreaming of being surrounded though, with people shouting at her, asking if she really wanted to go with Ernie.

Luckily she had been on the jet the entire time. She didn't have to deal with crowds of people only a week after Owen had a proper burial. Mercy still thought that Koda and Raven were still there with her when she woke up. But no, she was alone in her seat as Shane was reading through some papers.

"Are you okay, Sissy?" Shane asked when she had sat up.

She rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. I had a dream."

"Nightmare?"

"I don't know." She tugged at the small fleece blanket she had brought for the flight. "Are we almost there?"

"Yeah, almost. We'll be picked up by an SUV that will take us to the Raw arena. SmackDown is scheduled a few cities over, so we'll drive there."

"I'll be there for you at SmackDown, trust me."

"I know. I'm just worried about Stephanie."

What was her sister going to say to her? Was Stephanie really angry that Mercy was back, with two children of her own? Her Therapist suggested that Mercy think of something to at least say to Stephanie, but as to what that would be, Mercy couldn't come up with anything.

"Why didn't Paul fly with us?" She asked.

"Because we're taking the private jet he had to go first class on a basic flight."

Mercy lowered her head.

"It's not your fault, Mercy." Shane got up and knelt next to her seat. "You don't have to feel like it's your fault every time. Paul needed time with the girls and with Stephanie."

"She'll think it's all my fault again. She'll think just like before I went away."

"No." Shane touched her arm, bowing his head so that he could look in her face. "No, I won't allow it, Sissy. Her issues are her own, they have nothing to do with you."

Shaking, she reached up and wiped at the tears gathering in the corner of her eye. In a few moments she knew she was going to be bawling. The fingers of her right hand gripped at the armrest and her left hand balled into a fist. She could do this, she knew she could uphold some dignity even if it was in front of her brother.

"Take some deep breaths, Mercy. Calm down." Shane said running his hand over her head.

Mercy nodded and took those deep breaths.

After a while she did slowly start to calm down. By then, the pilot announced that they were heading in for a landing at the local small craft airport.

"You're going to be fine." Shane said as he sat down in his seat.

She heard her brother but she didn't say anything in response. She sat back and waited for the plane to land.

When the private jet landed in the city that Raw was going to be aired, Mercy found that there was no paparazzi there, no newspapers or media crews there to see her off the plane. Shane, with the help of the pilot, did help her with her single suitcase before they got into the SUV.

Shane would see her off at the arena. "I'll be on my way to SmackDown. You'll be taken a few cities over after the show." Shand said.

Mercy sent a text to their mother, who responded that Koda and Raven were waiting for the show to start eagerly. The arena came into view and that was when the heart pounding started.

"What if I screw up something?" She looked over at Shane.

"You're not going to. You're not even doing anything, except sit there looking pretty as ever." Her brother said.

Or it could be because her sister was going to be there and she was plain old scared of what her sister could do.

Behind the arena she saw a familiar redhead Irishman waiting for her and he wasn't alone. Sheamus and Shane helped her out of the SUV.

"Hi." The new man greeted her.

She eyed him, his clothing not matching what she had seen of him on the appearances on TV. While Sheamus and Shane talked a few feet away from them, Mercy was alone with a man. Not alone, she reminded herself, her brother and Sheamus were still close by.

"Hi. I'm Mercy McMahon." She offered her hand for a shake.

His touch was light and brief. "It's nice to meet you, Mercy. I'm Antonio Cesaro, or just Cesaro. I'm Shey's tag partner." The man said with a distinct accent.

"My son likes how you do that arm thing at the top of the turnbuckle."

"Oh, that had come out of my Indie days. Just a hold over." He smiled and he then shrugged.

"Is your mouth okay? I think I heard that you hurt your mouth or your teeth not too long ago."

He smiled, showing off nice white teeth. "Got them fixed. I'm better now, thank you for asking. Now I use a mouth guard when I perform."

Mercy smiled but then let the conversation drop. She didn't really know anything about this guy, only that he was big like Sheamus, wrestled and was called Cesaro in the company. And from the looks of their recent change in ring attire, wore camouflage kilts to the ring.

"How are your children?" Cesaro asked.

"Oh, they're fine. My mom is watching them for the next couple of days." Just as she said that her phone vibrated and a quick glance said that her mom was the sender. "Sorry, Mom telling me that Raven wants pictures of, uh, people."

"People?"

"I think because you're in a tag team with Sheamus, she might want a picture of us." Mercy looked over at Shane, who was pretending to be looking at the Irishman.

"We don't have to if you don't want to." Cesaro said.

"You do know how hard that kind of stuff can be, right?"

He said something in a language that sounded German. There she was doing it again, digging herself into another hole.

"But, because it is for Raven, I guess we can take a picture together." Mercy said. "But don't put your arm around me."

And Cesaro smiled, showing off his teeth again. Handing over her phone, she didn't mind pressing her arm up to him, he just had to lean down to get the both of them in a picture at the right angle. Though it was hard to pretend to smile, It only took maybe a minute before the picture was taken, and Cesaro handed the phone back to her.

"Thank you." Mercy said. "Thanks a lot."

"No worries."

"All right, let's get you settled inside, Mercy." Sheamus said as he walked up to the pair.

She nodded and went into the building. Sheamus followed her while Cesaro led the way. There had only been a handful of times that she had seen the inside of an arena, the backstage had people going about their business, some not even bothering to look up but then there were the odd few who did. But no one said anything. Maybe they had been given the memo.

"I am telling everyone right now, none of you are going to even talk to her, none of your are going to ask her questions. Do you understand me?" Paul sounded like he was talking to a bunch of children.

"Maybe it would be a good thing if she does." Her sister said.

"We made a promise that nothing was going to happen, Steph." Paul said.

"She's just being a baby about the whole thing. Why bother with any of this at all?"

They passed a large room where there were obviously a lot of wrestlers milling about. What was really going on was some sort of large meeting about, who else, Mercy. It wasn't that bad, until people started noticing the large Irishman standing there with Mercy. She had been looking at the faces in there, some if very little were old superstars that she knew. The rest were superstars she didn't know much if anything about. Her gaze instantly landed on Seth, who was smiling at her.

Stephanie made a noise. "Good, you've finally arrived."

Mercy couldn't find her voice. She didn't know what words to say to her sister. Men, big men alike, turned toward Stephanie who appeared to have a smirk on her face. But she wasn't going to let that get in the way.

"Hi, everyone." Mercy said, though it came out a little too hoarse for her liking.

Seth still smiled at her. It was the only thing that had made her mouth twitch up.

Sheamus put his hand on her upper back, moving her so that they could walk away. It didn't stop her from hearing what her sister said next.

"Why even bother with all of this? She's just wants the attention." Stephanie said.

The area went eerily silent after what Stephanie said.

"We know that's not true, lass." Sheamus said. A quick glance at Cesaro and Mercy thought she saw how angry he looked. "That is your sister's problem."

It didn't help that Mercy felt like Stephanie had wished she'd just stayed away and never have been found.

* * *

Seth knew when not to stand in the way of Stephanie McMahon, but this had been one of the nights he wanted to yell at her. The performers for the night had stared awkwardly as Triple H turned to Stephanie.

"I can't believe you just said that."

Braun Strowman was the first to make it out of the door. None of them were going to stand around and watch the heads of the company fight, especially about this one issue.

"How's she doing?" Roman asked when they were outside the meeting room.

Roman Reigns did come from a family and as a family man he understood when one person hurts they all hurt in some way. It was good to have him to talk to about stuff.

"I haven't talked to her since the FBI agent came by." Seth said.

"Why?" Dean asked.

Of course Roman was the second person Seth admitted the plan to about taking Mercy's ring. Sheamus was just as upset with this fact. Dean, he didn't ask much about Mercy and maybe it had something to do with not wanting to get personal with the boss's daughter.

"She still doesn't know about the plan?" Roman asked.

"What plan?" Dean asked.

"Not in the slightest."

"Fuck, do you guys want me to beg?" Dean asked.

"Well you never want to hear anything about Mercy. Why are you so curious?" Roman asked.

The tall blond man shrugged. "Guess because Seth's involved, I might as well get to know her. So what's up? What's this plan?"

"Taking off that fake wedding ring of hers, the agent thinks it'll drive Dickson out of hiding."

"Are you going to tell her about it?"

"No."

They walked down the hall, bypassing other superstars and divas. Most would point and whisper to the others as the three men passed, but Seth knew the reason why. Everyone knew that he and Sheamus showed up at the private funeral for Owen McMahon, they had seen Bret Hart there as well with Nattie.

"I think because of her coping, Vince asked Bret to come by." Seth said out of nowhere.

"That would have been a nice gesture, at least for his daughter. I could never imagine losing Jojo at all in my life. I can only guess what she had to go through." Roman said.

"That's all anyone is going to get."

"From how you described her, Mercy doesn't seem like the kind of person to trust just anyone."

Seth looked at him. Dean was smirking.

"Must be because he's smaller and less threatening." Dean said.

"And if seeing as this is you, maybe." Roman agreeed with the Lunatic. "Of course when Sheamus talked about the incident after the funeral, he painted it differently."

"About what?"

"Raven not knowing that Seth is acting, she got very scared seeing him get hurt." Roman told Dean. "You seemed to warm up to the three of them, Seth, at least that is what Sheamus said."

"Yeah, maybe I did. But I don't know what to do about it."

They made it to the guerrilla area, just beyond the curtain was the stage. No doubt Sheamus had taken Mercy this way, and sure enough he did. Sheamus and Cesaro were leaning against the ring as Mercy ran her hand over the edge of the bottom rope. She was smiling at the men as they talked to her.

"You think she'll be okay for tonight?" Dean asked.

"As long as no one crashes outside the ring near her, which I think was scrapped for her sake. She'll be sitting next to the ring announcer."

Seth headed down to the ring with Roman and Dean on his heels.

Mercy looked okay in simple black jeans, a black long sleeve shirt and a pair of high top sneakers. If he hadn't known she was thirty-two, she could have passed as a teenager. Looking at the McMahon's, Seth knew she took after her mother in everything, which he could be thankful for.

Finn Balor was heading towards the ring, directly towards Mercy. And he was smiling, as usual.

"What the hell is he doing?" Dean asked, shoulders straightening.

"I don't know." Seth said as he picked up his pace a little.

They walked down there as the Irish wrestler made his way towards Mercy. She hadn't seen him because she had been listening to something that Cesaro was saying. But by the time he was behind her she jerked.

The three Shield members were down at the side of the ring, but Balor wasn't standing in front of her. He was sitting down on the far steel ring steps.

"So you're from Ireland?" Mercy asked. "Like Sheamus?"

"That's right," he said, smiling. "I am. Does yer son like Legos?"

"Koda loves them. Right now he's more interested in baseball and wrestling." She said. She bit her lip.

"Hard to see why not." Cesaro said. "You know them, Sheamy, is that true?"

"I spent two hours building a Lego castle from scratch with Koda and Raven." Sheamus said, running a hand over his beard. "I say they both like them good enough."

Clearing his throat, Seth walked forward. "How are you doing, Merce?"

Mercy opened her mouth, glanced at Finn and then over at Roman and Dean. Seth knew she had shut down again because she didn't look back at them.

"I'll let ya talk. See you around, Mercy." Finn stood up. Again with the smiling, which she reciprocated.

"Yeah, we have to talk to the Balor Club," Sheamus said. "Where them guys at, fella?"

"In the back, I think AJ has them on a video call." Finn said. He waved at Mercy and followed the two taller men away from the ring.

Mercy watched him leave, there was a blush to her cheeks and again she was biting the inside of her lip. Seth shook his head. Of course she would be interested in Finn, who wasn't? He grimaced.

"Hey Merce, I want you to meet the guys. Roman Reigns. He's a long time friend of mine." Seth said, jabbing his thumb towards his right side. "That is Dean Ambrose."

"Hi." She glanced away. "Are you both performing tonight?"

"Yep." The two men chorused.

"What is going to happen afterwards?" She asked. "After the show?"

"You and me will be heading out to SmackDown a few towns over. We'll meet up with Shane and Nattie over there." Seth said.

"Yeah, right. I forgot." She sighed. "But anyway...that guy, Finn, he seems nice."

Seth felt Roman nudge him in the side.

"He's only been with the company for a couple of years, made his way to the main roster during the brand split. Pretty much everyone was split up into one brand or another." Dean said.

"Except for Cena." Roman said.

"I don't care for him. When watching the shows, the fans don't seem to care about him. But they really like you guys together."

Her eyes kept flickering over towards Dean as he had taken up Finn's spot on the ring steps. Seth figured he was trying the same act, trying not to be imposing.

Jojo's Princess ring tone sounded and Roman grabbed his phone out of his back pocket."Yeah, the fans love us. Hey, sorry to cut this short, my daughter is calling. It was nice to meet you, Ms. McMahon."

Roman walked away. Seth shoved his hands into his jeans and looked back at Mercy. She stepped away from the ring and headed to where she was going to be sitting for the show, in a side pocket that was separated from the crowd where Lilian Garcia would be. She sat down and looked at him, but also at Dean.

"I have to go find Renee. Routine you know." Dean stood up. "Nice to meet ya, too, toots." He saluted her and whiling shoving his hands in his pockets, Dean left as well.

"Did he just call me toots?" Mercy asked.

"Yeah, that's Dean for you though. You represent The Authority here. He hates Authority."

"So, he doesn't like me?"

Even though his knee disagreed with him, Seth knelt down in front of her, taking her hands in his. Mercy did look at him but she didn't pull her hands away.

"Dean's just being an ass" He rubbed his thumbs over the palm of her hands. "When all of this is over, you can go on with your life, you don't have to look at the company again. Focus on Koda and Raven. Find out what you want, not what anyone else wants."

"I want to give Koda and Raven a good life." Mercy said. "Better than what they had back in Alaska."

"I think that's already started to happen. They have a family that loves them."

"Some do."

Seth placed his hands on her thighs. "They have me." He swallowed slightly as his thumbs brushed over the fabric of her pants. "They have Shey, they have your brother and Paul. They have grandparents who love them. But most of all they have you."

Mercy didn't say anything.

"Look at me, Mercy." Seth said. "Look at me, please." When she did he moved his hands up to her hips. "I may have screwed up a lot in my life, but you never screwed up anything. You had no choices, no one allowed you to make those choices and right now more than ever you couldn't choose to stay hidden away. But what happens after these next couple of days is up to you. You decide what you want to do and I am behind you one hundred and ten percent."

"You mean that?" She asked.

"I do."

She went quiet for a moment, licking her bottom lip. "I want to take the kids to Florida. Go to the beach or something."

Seth laughed. "I'll see that it's done."

As he stood up so did Mercy. She looked down and slowly circled her arms around his middle, placing her ear up against his chest. His hands, working on their own accord, rubbed her back while his cheek was pressed to the top of her head.

"Thank you." Mercy said when she pulled away. "I needed that."

"No problem, Merce. Look I have to get ready for the show. But you'll be just fine."

She nodded, only offering a stressed smile before she sat back down in her chair. With one more nod, Seth walked away.

* * *

 **Please let me know your thoughts, PM if you don't want to leave a review. I think I may be starting to have an issue with how the story is progressing. As always, thanks for reading. I'll be back when I can.**


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Mercy hated the crowd even before the show started.

They had cameras on her, people were yelling at her to try to call her attention to them. Instead, she put earbud headphones in her ears to drown out all the noise of the fans. She had watched the workers work around her, seen the announcers purposefully ignore her. That was what she needed. What Mercy found out was that Raw commentators were up on the side of the stage for Raw. She was sitting ringside, nearer to the crowd, maybe she should have stayed up on the stage.

At the start of the show, John Cena came out to talk. She didn't need to have her earbuds in to know that a lot of the crowd didn't care for him, booed him and just all around didn't care about him.

The first match was between the women's division. Mercy only paid half attention to that. They were okay, for the most part but she didn't know who any of them were. When Koda and Raven watched the shows, they were all about the men wrestlers.

Like Sheamus. When Sheamus came out with Cesaro her attention was glued. Both men it appeared were heels, or bad guys. Sheamus told her that they were known as The Bar. They both held the tag team championships. Some other guys wanted the titles but who they were Mercy didn't care to know. She enjoyed the fact that Cesaro and Sheamus having fun. The Two men Sheamus and Cesaro were against were the Balor Club, friends of Finn's.

 _Raven wants Sheamus to win,_ a text from her mother said. And sure enough, Sheamus and Cesaro did win their match.

For being nearly front and center in all of this mayhem, as long as she focused on something other than the people behind her, it wasn't all that bad. Mercy either rested her head on her right hand or watched the matches.

Dean Ambrose and Roman were in a tag match, but not for titles. The Miz and his cronies were their opponents. Mercy curled her fingers in her pants when she watched Dean and Roman win their match, not because of their win but it was Dean.

He leaned over the top of the rope, winked and waved at her. And the cameras caught it, caught it all. She felt her heart fall into the pit of her stomach as he rolled out of the ring, on her side. What Seth said, he didn't care for Authority. He was pushing Authority, it only made her relax as he gave an exaggerated bow in front of her. Mercy smiled, regardless that she was feeling red in the face. Roman had to peel Dean away from Mercy so that the show could go on.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for our main event." The announcer called for everyone to hear some time later.

Seth's music came on near the end of the show. Mercy sat forward in the chair to see him walk out on stage. From the big screens, she could see him hyping up the crowd, raising his arms and doing little jumps to keep himself ready for action. The crowd cheered for him. She kept her mouth shut but held onto the arms of the chair as she watched him come to the ring.

He came into the ring, stepping up onto the turnbuckles and looked down at her. Pointedly, he looked right at Mercy and her hand grasped the armrests of her chair harder. She licked at her bottom lip as he slipped his shirt off and tossed it out into the crowd.

Sure she had seen him shirtless on television before, she felt his abs when she hugged him earlier. The way his skin moved over his muscles, his ringlet hair dripping with wet stuff. He looked better than before. She started to play with her wedding ring as the next performance song happened.

It started out with a pound, like a heartbeat. After a bit it drew into a near orchestral crescendo that had the fans going nuts. They loved whoever was about to come out. On the big screens it turned out to be Finn Balor, whom she had been talking to earlier. As he made his way into the ring she could see him a little better, wearing black trunks, basic ring gear.

He may not have had the same muscle mass or tone as Seth, but Finn was still just as good looking. And that thought caused some tension in her chest for Mercy.

Why was she feeling like this? She didn't feel like that for Sheamus. She never thought about anyone like that before. As the two men squared off in the ring, Mercy had to cover her eyes with one hand. She didn't want to look at them, she didn't want to see two men who made her think these stupid teenager thoughts.

Seth had taken a spill over the top rope and landed just feet from Mercy. Finn stood at the ropes looking down, but not really at Seth. He was looking at her and he was smiling as Seth crawled towards her almost unaware she had been there at all. His hand came up and made contact with her knee so that he could push himself into a standing position. Instinctively she put her hand on top of his as she looked up at him.

When she did that the crowd cheered. Seth smiled, using his hair to shield it from everyone as he finally stood up while the ref started counting. She glanced over at Finn, who was grinning as well.

But Seth didn't get back in the ring, he let himself get counted out. His face frowned as he looked down at her. A cameraman came in close as Seth grabbed her left hand.

"You don't belong to him anymore, Mercy." He said loud enough for her to hear. Even loud enough for the the nearby cameraman.

What did Seth mean by that?

He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the chair. She had no choice but to follow him, his fingers laced with her as she stared straight into the Japanese letters scrolling down the middle of his back. She didn't look around, she didn't look at anyone else as he guided her back up the ramp and backstage.

"What is going on?" She asked. "Why did you do that?"

"Part one of the plan," he said as he turned back to her.

A droplet of something trickled down the middle his chest. He took his wrestling gloves off and pressed his calloused hands to her face, forcing her to look at him.

"You have to trust me, Mercy, you have to know what is going to happen is for a reason."

"What is happening? Why did you say that stuff to me? I want to know what's going on, Seth."

He shook his head. "I promised your parents and the FBI that I would take the heat. If I show an interest in you, then maybe he would come out, attack me."

She shoved Seth's hands off her face. "I don't want you to get involved in this."

"Too late, Merce." He said. "I made my choice, you and your children deserve to be safe and happy. If I have to do it, then I will."

"It's just going to screw up, everything blows up when it comes to me. I can't lose you because of my problems."

"You're not going to lose me."

"Touching sentiment, Rollins." Her sister said.

Mercy didn't even bother to look at her sister, she didn't even acknowledge her. But she did want to cry, especially after what had just happened out there for everyone to see.

"Are you going to start crying, Mercy? God, you're so pathetic. I wish you had never returned." She heard Stephanie laugh.

"I wish you would shut the hell up." Mercy said.

"What?" Stephanie asked. "What did you say to me? Look at me, Mercy. I want to see you say it to my face."

Mercy turned around, tears coming out from the side of her eyes. "You are a bitch." She said through clenched teeth.

"Just because you popped two kids out…"

"I nearly died three times! On top of losing one by Him. He shook my baby! He shook him until he was blue. Then he attacked me! Over and Over!"

"So what?"

"So what? What is wrong with you? I nearly died! Why do you hate me!"

Stephanie shook her head. "I wish you stayed gone. And those two little brats, they don't deserve everything that we have because they aren't real McMahons."

Mercy screamed and shoved her sister, making Stephanie fall back into a group of nearby chairs.

* * *

"You bitch!" Stephanie yelled at Mercy. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She finally stood up but when Seth put himself between the two sisters Stephanie just glared.

"You're what's wrong! What have I done to you? What have I ever done to make you hate me?"

"You ruined everything for me!" The older sister yelled. "I hate you! I hate everything about you, Mercy! I wish you were dead!"

Mercy turned, glanced at Seth and then sobbed. Seth watched Mercy run down the hall. He didn't even look at Stephanie, only ran right after Mercy.

"What the hell is going on!" Triple H called after him.

"Your wife," was all Seth yelled.

He caught up with her, wrapped his arms around her and forced her to stop. There was a door nearby and he pulled her right into it, slamming the door close.

"Breathe, Mercy," he coaxed her as she fell, him falling with her to the floor. "Come on breathe."

She was hyperventilating as she cried. Her fingers scratched at his arms as they sat on the floor. She rocked and cried, making noises that Seth didn't know a woman could make. She sounded like a wounded animal.

The tears stung at the corner of his eyes. Why was he the one that wanted to cry? Why, Seth wondered, why did she have that much effect on him. Was it what she said, was it the hurt and anger that she had against Stephanie? Was it the anguish that she felt, which seemed to be everything that he felt.

"I got you, Merce," he murmured in her ear. He brushed her hair back and kissed the side of her head. "Take deep breaths, Mercy. Come on, calm down."

He'd never said those things to his exes, when he had someone to come home to. They never had a reason to feel alone and scared before.

Finn showed up in the room. He looked down at them, but he had Seth's things in his hand. Seth offered a nod as Mercy started to take shallow and shaky breaths.

"There, that's it, Babe." He said. She had gone limp against him, not fighting anymore. But she was still crying.

Finn left the bags, turned to look at them and then left the room all together. There had been people outside trying to look in at them. Ignoring that fact, Seth got to his knees and faced Mercy.

"I'm here, right here." He took her hand and placed it on the side of his face.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. Her blue eyes were tinged red from all the crying and she took deep breaths. Her other hand came up to his face, cupping his cheeks in between hers. She rubbed his beard, searching his face. His thumb brushed up against her chin as a tear dripped down the side of her nose. She lowered her head, her forehead touching his mouth. Seth kissed her there, small little kisses that spread from one brow to the other.

"Why?" She asked, dropping her hands to his shoulders.

"I don't know." He said, not sure what she was asking why about. "But I know that I'm here for you."

"She wanted me to hurt." Mercy said. "She wanted me to feel so much pain, hurt and feel bad for coming back."

"I know."

Mercy remained silent for a little while. At least her breathing had come under control.

"Why do I want to kiss you?" She asked so suddenly that he jerked his head back to look at her.

She slowly raised her eyes to look at him. Her left hand had drifted so that it was laying on his right thigh.

"You want to kiss me?" He asked.

"Forget it. I just never, no, never mind." She pulled away and stood up on shaky legs.

He followed suit, standing up as well. "What?"

"I can't like you, not in that way. You're trying to catch my husband, you're trying to protect me. I can't fall in love, I don't even know what it is." She grasped her hair with her hands. "When I see you, when I see someone like you and Finn, I get strange feelings, things I know I shouldn't be feeling. I want to touch you, I want you to touch me, but I don't know why."

"You're attracted to me. It's nothing to be ashamed of." Seth shrugged. "It's normal."

"But I shouldn't be thinking of you like that, or any guy with abs. I should be thinking of what needs to be done with Koda and Raven, I need to figure out what I want with myself but all I can think of when I see how good Finn looks in his trunks or how you look in your pants!" She half yelled and motioned to his ring gear.

He looked down at his flame print ring pants, the shin guards and knee pads. He looked fine. But apparently that was not what Mercy was thinking.

"And then those small kisses, I liked that." Her voice quieted down as she thought about her next words. "I just want those, I enjoy having you hold me and I don't know why."

"You were gone for seventeen years, Mercy. You were never allowed to feel like that. Damn, I mean, you're just catching up." He stepped up to her, his hands coming to touch her shoulders. "And now with your sister, I can only guess what is going through your head."

"I don't even know what's going through my head." She looked down and then at her hands. "I just liked the things you did while trying to comfort me."

He cupped the back of her neck and pulled Mercy towards him but didn't kiss her. Seth inhaled the smell of her hair, running his fingers through the strands of blonde hair that fell to her mid back. He felt her hands on his back, scratching at the wetness of his skin. She probably never felt up a man before, Seth's brain told him.

"Right now we need to find him." Seth said pulling back. "We have to find that man, Mercy. We're going to catch him, put him away forever and maybe find out if there is something between us."

He brushed the hair from her face. Even if her eyes were red, her full lips frowning and her brows creased, she still looked good.

"I have to get dressed." He said.

Her eyes danced across his chest, traveling down. She sighed and turned around.

"It's okay, Finn dropped off my stuff. I'll just throw on my hoodie on and we can head on out."

She nodded.

When they finally left the room there weren't anyone around, so getting out of the building was easy enough and the driver was waiting for them. The driver let Seth know that Sheamus had already brought her things out for her. Seth helped Mercy into the back seat and got in with her. Before long they were heading on their way to the next city for SmackDown.

* * *

 **Remember when I said I was having problems, it's this chapter that was giving me problems. I couldn't get this chapter to sound right. So I did the best I could and this is what I have to offer you guys. Hope you liked it.**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Mercy pulled her hair back as she sat in the SUV. She was wide awake, she couldn't think of anything to do to get her mind to shut up. Everything was dark around her and Seth was sleeping. His hair was down, his head leaning back and he was quiet. Seth had been quiet for pretty much the entire ride until he fell asleep with his hand outstretched between them.

Mercy looked at Seth's hand, his palm was up and she could see the callouses that adorned the flesh, the same rough hands that had cupped her face earlier. She leaned her head back against the headrest and stared at his hand. It was nice to look at, like the rest of him. His jeans hugged his thighs, his shirt was fitted like a second skin on him and the sleeves of the shirt were tight around his arms. It was his hand that intrigued her for the most part. Was it wrong to want to hold his hand?

Her mind went to the conversation she had with her mother after the show. Paul had told her mom what happened and she was checking up on Mercy. The kids were okay, they were excited to see her on the television. Raven liked the picture of her and Cesaro together before the show. Though Mercy never told her mother what she was thinking about when it came to Seth, what those thoughts were making her feel.

Mercy enjoyed her thoughts of a man she didn't know in the quiet of the SUV, watching him sleep next to her.

Eventually her eyes closed, the rumble of the SUV lulling her into a sleep that was not ideal.

For one thing she dreamt of Seth and her together, kissing. Maybe it was because he had been her attention, he had her attention. Because even in this dream he was shirtless, wearing his ring pants. Only he let her touch him. First his shoulders, down his chest, her hand skirting over the rippled flesh of his stomach, until they hit the top of his pants.

"Mercy," he said.

"Mercy, wake up." Seth said louder.

She jerked, falling out of that dream state and jumped back into the real world where there was a pressure between her legs and her heart thudding feverishly in her chest. Her hair fell around her face as she sat there, trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Mercy." Seth sounded from her side, his hand coming to touch her face to make her look at him. "You had a dream, that's all."

Heat flared in her face. She pulled her face away and looked around. It was still dark out but she saw that they were in front of a building somewhere.

"We're at the hotel." Seth said. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She found her voice a little too tense. "I just want to sleep in a bed."

"Paul said we had a room together." Seth said as he unbuckled.

"Okay."

They got out of the SUV, Seth stopping to get their stuff before they both headed into a nice looking hotel together. They got the key to their room and headed up in an elevator. Mercy didn't say anything, she couldn't really think as she watched Seth from the corner of her eye. He leaned with his back against the elevator wall, his head back and his chest sticking out.

At their room, it became obvious what was waiting for them.

One king size bed at the far end of the room. One bed. One damn bed and two people.

"Well, shit," Seth cursed.

She looked at him. Mercy saw his arms flexing as he dropped his stuff off next to the dresser. He took out his cell phone and found a number.

"Yeah, Trips, it's Seth. You know that room you reserved for us. Did they say it was a one bed or two bed suite?"

She sat down on the edge of the bed, letting her body sink into it.

"Because there is only one bed and its two o'clock in the morning. I don't want to scare her." Seth said.

Scare her? How could Seth scare her?

With heavy eyes she went to her bag as Seth continued to talk to her brother in law. He had started talking in a low voice as she found her pajama pants and a sleep shirt her Mom had insisted on her packing. Instantly she started to undress, but she stopped when Seth yanked her shirt down.

"Change in the bathroom, Mercy." He said, his face level with her ear. "I don't want you to feel embarrassed."

"I'm not. I always changed in front of him." She looked at Seth.

"I'm not him. I'm not going to make you do that." His hand squeezed her hip, bringing her closer to him. "I'll feel like a sicko if I watched you change."

"Why?"

"Because I would want to see everything you have. And that isn't going to happen any time soon. So please, go change in the bathroom. You're making me feel uncomfortable now."

She gathered up her stuff, casting one more look at Seth before she went to the bathroom to change. When she closed the door, she heard a mumbled curse from Seth in the next room.

* * *

He had seen the scars on her back when Mercy lifted her shirt. That long scar near her hip made him see red, and he didn't want to see what else was marking her skin that the Asshole had done to her.

It was hard to think of Mercy as other than Trip's little sister in law, but his body was betraying him as he tried to get dressed down for bed. Stuck with just one bed for the rest of their stay in that city, he had to try to think of anything other than her full figure.

She came out of the bathroom in gray sweats and one of his shirts he didn't know she had. It was really weird to see her in one of his old Seth Rollins shirts, but damn it, she looked good. Mercy didn't look at him as she walked to the side of the bed closest to the door and pulled back the blankets. She climbed in and laid their, looking up at the ceiling.

Down to his boxers, he walked around to the other side and got in as well. He reached over and flicked off the lamp on his side to cast the room into darkness.

Their shoulders brushed up against each other. She stayed still, unlike himself as he fought to get comfortable in the bed. Usually able to fall asleep minutes after the lights were out, Seth found himself in a place of uncomfort.

He flipped to his left side to face away from her, he sighed and closed his eyes. Seth just couldn't get to sleep, not while she was there.

Mercy moved. She came up behind him and pressed her front into his back. Her arm snaked under his, her hand coming down to hug his chest and her face pressed into the back of his head.

"When Koda can't sleep this is how I get him to go to sleep." She said, her breath hitting that small spot in the back of his neck.

Well, at least she wasn't scared of him. Resting his hand on top of hers, Seth closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He was content in the morning, waking up feeling refreshed. Though he found they had shifted in the night, her with her head on his arm and her hand over his lower stomach. It didn't help that something else was wide awake and happy. God, did he have a wet dream or something?

Seth sighed but then stiffed as she stretched, her hand heading closer to the one thing he didn't want her to meet. Not saying a word, she pulled away, got up and headed for the bathroom. No morning, no how did you sleep or any small talk. When the door closed he sat up and leaned against the wall.

"What the hell?" Seth asked as he reached for his ringing cell phone. "Hey, Trips." He said when he answered.

"How is she doing? I'm sorry about the bed situation."

"We're fine. Just got up, in fact. When is Nattie getting here?"

"Soon, I think she and Tyson are coming in later today." Trips said. "She didn't get scared sharing the bed with you?"

"No, she wasn't. It bothered me more, but...I guess she thought I was having trouble sleeping," he explained what she had done, making sure to add that she said she did it with Koda when he couldn't sleep.

"Well if it wasn't bad. There's been a change in what is going to happen in the show. We've filled Shane in, she's not going to sit ringside like she thinks she is."

"What? Why?"

"You're going to do a skit with her, act like you have been searching for her. You'll take the ring off, but you'll also be kissing her."

"What?" He didn't mean to almost yell that one.

"Vince wants it. I don't but apparently the FBI agent thinks it would be better, to piss him off and get him to come out faster. If he sees her kissing another guy, or even get people talking about it, he'll come out of the woodwork faster."

He did say that he was willing to do anything to help Mercy.

"Don't tell her this. We need it as natural as possible." Paul said.

"I hate to break it to you, Trips, but she's starting to say stuff that makes me uncomfortable, and you know that's hard to do with me."

"What? What's she saying?"

"I think she has some feelings for me." Seth pressed his hand to his face. "When I went to comfort her she just let loose with her thoughts and feelings all at once."

Paul was quiet for just a bit. Seth waited for him to continue.

"I think this is going to screw her up, Paul. I don't want her breaking down again, she's already went through that with her sister." Seth said.

"I'm still pissed at Steph over what she said. Finn told me what had happened. The man has a golden heart."

"She likes him, too. I'm not sure how much but she admitted to me that she likes him."

"Don't tell Vince that, he'll find a way to put that in the show, too."

Seth ran a hand over his face. "The thing is, I think I'm sort of liking her, too."

He heard his friend and employer take in a breath.

"But I told her that I didn't want to start anything until after he was captured. Look, I get it that Koda and Raven like me, I don't understand how that works but I don't want to confuse them, much less Mercy if I were to start dating her. God, that sounded weird to say."

"Yeah, it did. But you're right. We need to think about getting the guy. Thanks for keeping it in your pants."

Was he ever going to live that mistake down? Seth looked at the ceiling but heard the toilet flush, and then the taps turn on.

"I'll talk to Shane about the show when we get to the arena. She's coming out of the bathroom."

They hung up, Seth thankful that Mercy was still in the bathroom during they call. She walked out soon after and her eyes flicked over to him.

"Morning." She finally said as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Hey. How are you feeling today?" He asked as he dropped his phone back down on the nightstand.

"I'm okay."

"I'll be back." Seth said as he got up and went to the bathroom. He grabbed a change of clothes on the way out.

When he came back, she was dressed in another pair of black jeans and a different top, she was pulling her hair up into a high ponytail and just generally looking good.

She had a figure that wasn't diva like, of course the company wasn't worried about BMIs for the women now. Of course she was a mother of two, three, but she looked healthy, if a little pale but then again she was in Alaska inside cabin for a lot of the time.

"Can I ask you some questions, Mercy?" Seth asked as he walked up to the bed.

She looked at him. "Sure."

"Are the scars on your back from him?"

"Yeah. He liked his belts a lot. When I tried to get away, he would purposefully leave the door unlocked and see if I would run. If I did he'd beat me up. After a while Ernie would just leave me tied with a collar."

Seth bit at the inside of his lip as he watched Mercy. She said those things so casually that it unnerved him. How could she have dealt with any of that?

"Did he force you to have sex with him?"

"He said I was his wife and that I was to give him children. I had three children with him, I didn't want to have children so in that way I guess so, yes. He forced me to have children."

Now Seth's hands clenched into fists, his face settling on her left hand ring finger. He had to think of a way to get it off of her, but how? It would have to wait to be discussed at the arena.

"I'm sorry." Mercy said.

"Huh? Why are you sorry?"

"For making you uncomfortable. I have all of this going on with me and you're trying to help." Mercy shook her head.

"You didn't make me uncomfortable. But sometimes I don't know when what I say is uncomfortable for other people. I'm saying what happened to me but it just seems to upset people."

"It's hard to hear, I guess that's why it makes us uncomfortable."

"But it's what I am used to," she let out an exasperated sigh. "It's what I went through for seventeen years. Maybe I can trust you to tell this stuff to because I don't want to let Dad know."

"Why don't you want Vince to know."

"I know my Dad, I know what he is like and I don't want him to use everything that happened to me to be broadcast to the world. Like a tell all book or something." She looked down,

Seth decided not to tell her what had happened within his own personal life with women.

"Nattie and her husband Tyson will be here soon, there's a production meeting at the arena soon so that will be entertaining." Seth said as he stood up from the bed.

Soon, he told himself, he was going to take that damn ring off her finger and screw her mind up with a kiss for the entire world to see.

He knew his day was going to end up awful.

* * *

 **Well, that was a little different. I'll have the next update queued up and ready in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Mercy had only ever seen AJ Styles and Shinske Nakamura on television. This was SmackDown, this was where her brother was working, at least for a moment. The two men seemed oblivious as they talked off in the distance.

"Mercy," she looked up when her brother approached. "How are you doing?"

"Okay." She cast a glance at the man with the medium length light brown hair. "Is that AJ Styles?"

Her brother looked over at where she was looking. "Yeah, did you want to go say hi?"

"No. I don't want to bother him. He's really good in the ring though."

"He's not called The Phenomenal One for no reason. He's been around for a long time, but only just signed with us a couple years ago. You should really meet him. He loves his four kids to the moon and back."

She shook her head. "No, I don't want to bother people. Have you seen Dad, though? He's supposed to be here, right?"

"Yeah. That's where I'm heading for now. There's a production meeting. Some things have come up that need to be changed. I guess it's no secret, you're not going to be ring side for the show."

"Why not?" She looked at her brother with wide eyes.

"Well, I think you'll just be shown backstage with me or Daniel Bryan, who hasn't arrived yet. He's the GM for SmackDown. But don't worry, you're going to be fine."

She felt her breathing hitch up a little. Why did they have to change what she wanted all of a sudden? Wasn't what Seth did the night before enough?

"Hey, hey, come on." He moved her back so that she was sitting on a travel crate. "Calm down, Mercy. You have to trust me, I would never let something happen to you. You're not going to talk, you're not going to do anything, just sit in one place. That's all. We just need to figure out how to get that done without problems."

Mercy was able to nod, pulling at her hair that had fallen over her shoulder. She knew she could trust her brother, she could trust on him to keep her safe. It wasn't his fault that Ernie had taken her.

Shane nodded as he rubbed her shoulder. "Good, calm down. I'll be back in a little bit. Seth will be around soon. Don't worry about it."

"Okay." She closed her eyes, sighed and opened them again. "Okay." She said with more confidence that time.

Mercy watched Shane walk away. All she had to do was breathe and calm down, she knew they would never let her get into a bad situation, at least not on purpose. Breathing was easier when her brother left after a few minutes.

Her phone vibrated in her hand, and when she looked she saw that it was a video call from her mother.

"Hi, Mom." She said as she held the phone out a ways. "How are Raven and Koda?" She asked.

"They are great. Raven wanted to talk to you."

Mercy saw her daughter's face come into the screen. "Momma, how is Seth?"

"He's fine, sweetie."

"Have you met more superstars?" She asked. "I liked the Cesaro picture."

Mercy shook her head. "No, not yet on SmackDown. How is your brother doing? Is he giving Nanna any problems?"

"No, he's got a Lego kit of a spaceship. We were putting it together. Momma, that's AJ." She said.

She about jumped off the crate when seeing the WWE Champion standing close by. He caught her elbow, righting her up on the crate.

"Sorry about that, Ms. McMahon." He drawled out. "I just came over to say hi."

"Oh, uh," She looked down at her phone. "I was talking to my daughter Raven. Sweetie," she turned to the phone holding it up. "Are you still there, Raven?"

"Yes, Momma. Hi, Mr. AJ." The little girl waved.

"Hey there, cupcake." He said. "Nice to finally meet ya. I got a little girl just about your age."

She saw Raven smile. "You can fly like Seth."

AJ laughed. "Yeah I can. I've been doing this for a long time."

"You talk funny, not like Sheamus though." Raven said.

"I'm from Georgia, sweetheart. Course I sound funny."

Raven looked away. "Nanna wants me to come eat. Thank you for talking, Mr. AJ."

"Nice talking to you, too, sweetheart."

"I'll talk to you later, Raven." Mercy said.

"Love you, Momma."

They kissed and Mercy hung up the phone. Mercy smiled as she put her phone in her back pocket.

"How ya doing?" AJ asked.

"I'm nervous. There was a change for me tonight and I don't know what's going on."

"Sorry to hear that. So why aren't you in on the meeting?"

"I don't know. I was told to stay here. I have a feeling they don't want me to know what's going on."

He leaned against the wall, his blue eyes looking at her. Like Seth, AJ was definitely physically imposing with large arms. He had a shorter beard but his light brown hair hung just below his ears. From what she had seen of him on the television he was really a fan favorite.

"Did you meet any of my buddies over on Raw?" He asked.

"Who are your friends?"

"They were with me in Bullet Club. Have you ever heard of it?"

"No."

"Well The Bullet Club was founded in Japan by Finn Balor."

"Oh, I met him. He was nice." Then she bit the inside of her lip.

"You're blushing." He said with a short laugh. "Yeah, I know he's a good looking man. Even my wife says so. Hell, most of the women superstars will agree."

"Hey, there you are. Oh, hey AJ." Seth said as he approached them.

"Rollins." AJ said with a nod. "I better get going. I have to talk to Nakamura about our spot in the show tonight. It was a pleasure to meet you, Ms. McMahon." AJ said before he walked away.

"That man is a saint, he's good to work with and knows how to horse around even in the ring. I'm glad it was him you met up with instead of someone else." Seth said as he took a seat next to her on a nearby crate.

"Why?" Mercy asked.

"Because, he's a good ole southern boy. Raised right, has a wife he loves and kids he adores. He's always been respectable to people and from people. AJ Styles is the next big thing in the WWE right now."

"Seems I'm learning a lot about my family's company a lot lately." Mercy said.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"They screw people over in a job and think it's funny to ignore someone."

"Oh God, you're talking about the Neville thing?"

"Yeah, I heard about that. Not all of it but enough to know that something has to be done."

She caught Seth smiling. He was smiling really big for someone who had no place in the show she just mention.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"I thought you didn't want anything to do with this company. It sounds like you're investing energy into it."

She looked down.

"It's okay, Merce, you can think and feel however you want. I'm not going to judge you on it." Seth said as he touched her knee.

She removed his hand from her knee.

"What's going on, Seth?" She asked him. "What was the meeting about that I wasn't allowed to go into?"

"You have to understand, Merce, that what we're doing is to get Dickson to come out. We've got the media involved, even in a remote Alaskan town they know we've got you. But you have to roll with the punches, so to speak. You have to trust me, you have to trust your brother and Dad too. We're not going to let anything happen to you."

"All you guys keep saying the same thing over and over. You tell me to trust you, but how can I when I don't even know what's going on."

"Well, I guess you can know you are going to be backstage for a majority of the show. You'll be sitting in a hall, the camera is going to follow superstars and have you in the shot. But they aren't going to talk to you, some may look at you but that is all."

"What are you going to do? I know you have a place here in the show but you're supposed to be only on Raw."

"Don't worry about it, Mercy. This is the right thing to do and I don't think there is anything you'll have to worry about."

Mercy nodded. Yet she didn't believe what he was saying.

* * *

The wait was the worse for Seth as the show went on.

Seth sighed for the fifteenth time in the last twenty minutes. He was waiting for his place with Shane McMahon.

"Hey, everything all right, bud?" AJ asked.

"Yeah, man, just getting things ready in my head."

The older superstar nodded. "When's the skit?"

"Soon. Have you seen Mercy around?"

"Yeah, up on the right. Since we've gone live she's stayed on the same crate and hasn't moved."

"Great. She's probably too scared to do anything."

"What's the plan?"

"Take the ring off, toss it and kiss her near the end of the show."

"Oh hot damn." AJ mumbled. "That isn't good."

"No, and you want to know what's worse because it is her?"

"What?"

"She has feelings for me, feelings she was never allowed to have."

"She said this?"

"Yeah."

"Do you feel the same way?"

"I don't know, man. I'm starting to care about her, who wouldn't when what she went through. But, I don't know if it's the right thing to do."

AJ was the family, with a tattoo for each of his four kids. He was dedicated to them and that was well known to anyone. If someone understood maybe it would be him. AJ stayed silent for a while, thinking about Seth's predicament.

"It's probably better to play through this thing, wait until the asshole is caught and see where it goes. Wouldn't want to put so much stress on her at the moment. It's bad enough that she had to sit in front of cameras on Raw."

He was right. That was the right thing to do, especially for Mercy and the kids.

"Wanna hear something?" AJ asked. "I talked to Raven."

"You did?" Seth lifted his brow when he looked at the other wrestler.

"Yeah, she's a cute little girl."

"She takes after her mother too much."

No matter how many times Seth saw Raven and Koda, they were similar and different to the rest of the McMahon family. Koda was the usual ball of energy while Raven seemed more reserved, but it seemed like she was opening up more, especially around Linda McMahon.

He knew to the little girl, Seth was the best thing in the world.

"Oh God." He scrubbed his hands over his face and groaned, pulling at his hair.

Just get it over with and done so that Mercy could go on living a good life. That was the plan at least for Seth.

After the skit with Shane McMahon, and with the crowd being heard freaking out over Seth's SmackDown appearance, there was only one more part of the show that needed to be done.

Daniel Bryan was still working as GM for SmackDown at the time. He was talking to Mercy with about a four foot gap between them, more than likely Bryan was showing off the pictures of his baby girl. It looked like Mercy was doing the same, showing off pictures of Koda and Raven that were on her phone.

"We're almost ready for the skit." Shane said as he approached Seth. "Do you know your lines?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do." Seth didn't take his eyes off of Mercy.

She had her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Mercy was wearing black clothing again, a black V-Neck shirt and black jeans that hugged her generous hips. As she nodded at something Bryan had said and he walked off towards where Shane and Seth was standing, Mercy stopped smiling. She looked away, which Seth ran his hand over his face.

"Something up?" Bryan asked.

"Nah, nothing." Seth looked at his friend. "How's she doing?"

"Scared but then again, who wouldn't be in her shoes?" Bryan looked between Seth and then over at Mercy. "I heard what you're going to do tonight and I hope the best for you. I'm going to call Brie."

Shane showed back up. "Sorry, there was an issue with one of the women." He smoothed down his jacket as he turned to look at where Seth was looking. "The New Day each won twenty bucks."

"Huh?"

"I paid The New Day twenty bucks each if they could get Mercy to smile." Shane smirked. "And they did when they were walking through acting like their in ring idiots. Don't be sour and all that stuff got her to smile on camera."

"That's good."

"Are you okay with what's going to happen?" Shane asked. "You know, about what you're doing?"

"I'm not okay with it because she has admitted to having feelings for me."

"Whoa."

"Yeah."

"Just explain it to her that it was just a skit."

"Sure. I'll do that."

The cameraman was in position, Mercy had been instructed to wait in the middle of the hall and be surprised when Seth walked up. That was the set up and then it was action for Seth.

"Mercy," he called as he came close enough.

She didn't say anything, as she had been told not to. She did start twisting her wedding ring. When he was within reach, Seth grabbed Mercy's left hand again and grabbed the ring.

"You see this, Merce, this is not legally binding." He held the ring for her to see. "He doesn't own you, he never had."

Seth tossed the ring over towards the watching Shane McMahon just behind the cameraman. Mercy turned to watch it, her mouth open in a silent scream as that last link with the man had been severed.

"Dickson has no claim to you, because I want you. I need you, Merce." He cupped her face lightly, making her turn to look at him. And when she did, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

Something happened, it was like a click in his brain. The kiss was supposed to be short and to the point, but he lingered on her mouth, nipped at her bottom lip as he felt her hands try to pry his hands off her face. It felt, no, it tasted good. She smelt like apples, cinnamon and sweetness. Seth even stepped closer, not breaking the kiss, pressing his lower half into her body.

Finally he pulled back and looked at Mercy. A single tear fell down her round cheek and she wore a scrunched up face as she glared at him.

"Come on, let's get out of here." He said.

Seth went to take her hand again but she pulled back. The next thing he knew was that she was slapping him, not something planned at all.

"Leave me alone!" She yelled at him, shoving him back two steps. "Just leave me alone, Seth."

She took off down the corridor, leaving Seth in the hall with no other option but to watch her.

Well that got fucked up, he thought when the cameraman lowered his camera and Shane motioned for Seth to come back.

* * *

 **Yay! They finally kissed! And it only took fourteen chapters to do so.**

 **Well there you go. Another update. I have been loving the feedback from you guys.**

 **And here's a little tidbit, I'm updating one of my older stories soon, I'm not sure when but soon. Anyway, I'll see you guys around. Happy Reading!**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

It didn't take Nattie long to find Mercy, seeing as The Women's locker room had been close to where that last skit took place.

"You knew, didn't you?" Mercy looked at Nattie. "You knew he was going to do that."

"Pretty much everyone knew, sweetie." Nattie sat down next to Mercy on the bench.

"Why? Why does everyone keep everything from me? Even Seth."

"I guess to piss off Dickson if he saw you kiss another man. Of course it would have worked out better if you hadn't slapped Seth in the face and stormed off like that."

Pulling her hair out of the ponytail, Mercy looked down at her hands. They shook, her chest hurt from the beating of her heart and she could just see Raven calling to see if Seth Rollins was going to be her new Daddy.

"They couldn't have just stayed with taking the ring off?" She looked at her left ring finger, which had been the only piece of jewelry she had ever owned in her life.

Her finger was cold now that the ring was gone. It made the rest of her body feel cold, the one constant thing that had been with her since she was fourteen, it had been with her through a lot and now it was gone.

"It doesn't feel real, even while its gone." Mercy said.

She looked at the band that was on Nattie's finger. It was shiny, it had a diamond on it and it sparked when she moved her hand. Mercy's ring wasn't like that. She had seen Dean Ambrose's wife, who had a sparkly set of rings as well, but Mercy's was just a bronze band that Ernie had made himself.

"But what was said, what Seth said, it's true. Your marriage isn't legal. It wasn't real, Mercy. But I'm not saying it wasn't real for you. Seth had to say that to get Dickson out into the light so that it would be easier to catch him."

"You're right." Nattie was right. "But what am I going to do now?" Mercy asked.

"You're going to go home, hug your babies and wait for this to blow over."

Mercy was quiet for a minute. She mulled over what had happened and what to do. She ignored the tones of her phone going off.

"I don't want to leave with Seth." Mercy said.

Nattie touched her arm. "Why?"

"I feel strange. If that was a scripted kiss, it didn't feel like it. He bit my lower lip."

Nattie's mouth hung up, her fingers lightly covering her lips as if trying to silence a scream. "For real? He did that?" She finally asked.

"Yes, he did."

"Oh my god. He really does have a thing for you." Nattie said. "Do you like him, too?"

"I don't know. What I think and what I feel, they are two different things and I don't really understand why."

"It's normal, Mercy. You're attracted to Seth Rollins, I mean what single woman wouldn't want to have his attention?"

"I would love to have that." The Irish woman Becky Lynch said as she was nearby at the time. "Considering what you are going through, I would love to have a man like Seth in my corner."

"She still has Sheamus." Nattie said as she turned to looked at the redhead.

"Finn told me he'd like to get to know her better. You know how he loves children." Becky said.

Mercy pressed her hands in between her knees. With thoughts filtering through her already troubled head, she opted not to say anything, to ignore what was screaming in her mind.

Nattie touched her back. "Hey, Mercy, come on. You don't have to worry about it. Just go home and be with your babies."

Sniffing, Mercy nodded. "Yeah."

There was a knock on the door, which turned out to be Shane. "Hey, show's over." He told Becky. "I came to see Mercy. Is she doing good?"

"She's trying to hold it together."

"Is it safe for me to come in because my wife would kill me if she found out I walked in on another woman change."

Nattie laughed and stepped back. "Most of the women have already gone, so you're safe."

Mercy didn't even look at her brother as he sat down next to her. She was busy trying to type out a text to her mother with one finger.

"Still learning to text?"

She ignored his question. "Raven and Koda want to know if Seth is going to be their new Daddy."

It was the combination of sounds that Nattie and Shane made that made Mercy look at them. Nattie was fully covering her mouth and Shane was slack jawed before he took Mercy's cell phone. He read the messages that were coming in from their mother, messages that made Mercy even more flabbergasted when knowing the Raven would have preferred Seth over Ernie as a father.

"I knew this was a bad idea. But did either Dad or Steph listen to me or Paul, no." Shane handed the phone back. "I'm only assuming what is going on social media."

"Guess its a good thing I don't do any of that." Mercy mumbled as she took her phone back.

"Nattie, could you and Tyson take Mercy to the hotel?" Her brother asked the diva.

"Is she leaving back for home tomorrow?"

"As far as I'm concerned, yes. And she's never coming back and that storyline shit isn't ever happening again." Shane stood up, holding a hand out to Mercy. "Come on, Sissy, I'll walk you out."

"Sure, whatever."

"I'll go find my husband." Nattie said.

They left the locker room, and there was no Seth in sight. Several superstars lingered, eyeing the two of them as they headed towards the back of the arena where the parking lot was located.

"Just watch in front of you, don't make eye contact and you'll be okay." Shane said.

She did, until she made eye contact with the nearby AJ Styles. He smiled and nodded, for what reason she didn't comprehend but it was good to see him there. He'd been nice, he'd been nice to Raven and respectful, sharing things and thoughts without caring who she was.

Tyson Kidd was nice to her, much as Nattie had been. He drove them to the hotel, keeping quiet as Mercy looked out the window into the night of the city they were in.

All she had to do was sleep that night and go home in the morning, leaving Seth on the road to do whatever he was supposed to do. She had been told two shows, two shows and that was it.

There was a ding, notifying that she had a new message. It was from a number she didn't recognize, a number that had the ID name of Finn.

 _ **Hiya, Mercy, it's Finn. I'm letting you know AJ told me what happened. Be strong for your lovelies.**_

How did Finn get her number? Who put it in her phone? There hadn't been a lot of times when she left her phone unattended. How did it get there?

Why did he text her?

* * *

"You're not making this into a storyline." Trips had told Vince and Stephanie at the meeting after SmackDown.

Seth had stayed behind to hear what was going to happen about what went down. He didn't want to continue the storyline.

"Do you want to know what's going on with Raven and Koda?" Shane asked his father, while glancing at his sister.

"I'm not in the mood for this, Shane. It's what's best for business..." Stephanie started to say.

"Raven and Koda want to know if Seth is going to be their new Daddy."

The papers in Paul's hands fell to the floor, Stephanie looked like a gaping cod and Seth's hand slipped off the table he had been leaning against.

"She's confused, Dad. Mercy understands the need to get the ring off, yes, but why the hell did you have to make Rollins kiss her?" Shane crossed his arms. "I can only guess what the rumor mill is like."

None of that mattered, Seth just heard the one thing even his own mother wanted out of him. Kids, her kids, they wanted him to be their father?

What feelings he held for her came as a surprise. He liked her quietness, her insecurities about everything around her, her blatant acceptance of him as a friend and a person in her kids' life made wanting to be with her harder to bear. He'd woken up with her in his arms, her soft hair brushing up against his skin. Her touch made his body react in ways that he had not anticipated after his last girlfriend broke it off with him.

"Well we all can't have what we want." Stephanie finally said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Paul asked.

"Please, those two together would look stupid. And really, putting Mercy and Rollins together wouldn't give him the push that he obviously needs now that he's an upper midcarder."

"I may not agree with what you just said, Stephanie, but I would rather have Mercy happy than miserable. I want her and the kids safe, because its obvious she doesn't want anything to do with being on television." Seth said. "I don't want her to be forced to go on television again."

"She's been a wreck, Steph." Shane added with emphasis.

"We did promise only two times. And rightly, she ended the storyline properly by slapping Seth." Paul said as he glanced at the younger man. "We're not going to force her to further that anymore. I just hope Dickson comes out of hiding now."

That was a sentiment that Seth wanted to end and soon. He didn't know if whatever was going on with Mercy was going to last for good or until everything settled where she and the kids could go on and live sort of normal lives.

"Where is Mercy?" Vince asked, having stayed quiet for the majority of this meeting.

"I sent her back to the hotel with Nattie and Tyson." Shane said.

"We'll wait on this storyline, put it on a back burner until everything is cleared up. No need for her to go through a nervous breakdown." Vince said.

"Thank you." Shane ran a hand over his head.

It still didn't stop the thoughts that jumbled in Seth's mind as he rode with Shane to the hotel. He couldn't get the image of him kissing Mercy out of his head, even if he was tired, even if he was exhausted with the traveling. He wanted to go back to the hotel room and be with her. If anything at all just hold her.

"What are you thinking about, Seth?" Shane asked when they pulled into the parking lot of the hotel they were staying at.

"What do you mean?"

"You have the intense look I'm used to seeing when you're over analyzing something. What are you thinking about?"

"Just everything that has happened with Mercy. Personal thoughts about her." he admitted.

"You care more than what you should?"

"Pretty much."

"I'm her brother, I was supposed to watch her even though Steph made it absolutely clear she didn't want anything to do with Mercy. If you hurt her, do know that I will come after your ass."

Shane left Seth sitting in the car, heading inside the hotel shortly after, leaving the keys in the ignition. Seth locked up and went inside, walking as fast as his heart was beating. He didn't even bother to take the elevator, running up six flights of stairs just to get to the sixth floor of the hotel, digging his hotel room card out of his wallet.

He found Mercy sitting in the middle of the bed, legs crossed and rocking slightly. He'd seen her do stuff like that before, rocking and staring off while fiddling with something. In this case she was picking at the comforter she was sitting on.

"Mercy," he said as he closed the door behind him. "Can we talk?"

She stopped moving and glanced at him. "Why?"

"Because, we need to talk about what happened." He said, trying to use words that wouldn't scare her or unnerve her. "What I did at the show was scripted, and I am sorry that you didn't know about it. I was told not to tell you."

She didn't budge when he moved towards the bed. He kicked off his shoes and sat next to her, leaning back on his right arm. He still gave her some space but he was looking at her blonde hair as it cascaded down to the middle of her back.

"And I realized something, Mercy."

She didn't respond. She didn't even look at him. Seth lightly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her down so that she was laying in his lap. This time she squealed yet as she tried to get up, Seth pinned her there by cupping her cheek with his hand.

"I really like you, Mercy."

"No, you were only in this because they needed someone to get the heat off of me." She pulled his hand off her face and tried to sit up.

Seth shifted so that she could sit up and when she did, while turning to face him, he made the second mistake of the night. He kissed her, cupping the side of her face as he did so. He nipped her lower lip and yet she didn't respond, hell Mercy didn't even touch him.

"Talk to me, Babe." He said when he pulled back, resting on his left arm. "Mercy, look at me."

She looked at him, only moving her eyes to do so.

"What's wrong?" Seth asked as he ran his fingers through her hair. Having to ignore how soft her hair was, Seth looked into her eyes. "Please, talk to me."

"I thought we discussed not starting anything until after everything was cleared." She said. "After everything was finished."

He twisted her hair between his fingers just to have something to do. "I know but that was before I kissed you. And I will admit, I liked the second one better. Didn't you?"

"I don't know, maybe it was okay." She whispered, a hand coming to cover her face. "I want to do things, but I know it will sound strange or stupid."

"No it won't. I'm a Potterhead, I know weird." He said, pulling her closer if just to smell her hair.

"I want to touch you." She said. "I want to know what you feel like."

"Sexually?"

"No. Just your upper body." Again with talking quietly. "Your arms, maybe your chest."

"Are you sure, Mercy?"

"Yes, Seth. Can I touch you?" She asked in a firmer tone.

He pulled away and then pulled his shirt off. At least she had finally turned to look at him, her hair half covering her face as she did.

"Come here. Sit next to me." He leaned back against the headboard and tugged on her hand. "Come on, just do it, Mercy."

She got up and crawled up to the headboard. She sat cross legged facing him and he took one of her hands in his and kissed the back of her hand. Seth smiled as he leaned back against the headboard. Mercy looked lost, she didn't seem to know what to do.

"You can do what you want, Merce. Touch me. Feel what a real man feels like." He said, pressing her hand into his chest. "Touch me, babe. I am not going to do anything at all to you. I want you happy."

He really did want her happy. If her touching him was what it was going to take, he was willing to put up with the torment for her to be happy.

* * *

 **Pushing boundaries with this one. It feels like I'm pushing Mercy's boundaries and mine as a writer. At least they are on the same page as each other, I think. Let me know what you think. And like always thanks for reading.**


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

His skin was soft, except to the hair on his chest and down the center of his stomach.

Seth smiled at her, it was the kind of smile that made her stomach flip over. Mercy didn't know what to do, because she had never been in this position where she was the one touching. Her throat closed up as Seth released her hand and then crossed his arms behind his head, still smiling at her.

"Touch me, Mercy." Seth urged again.

Was the thumping in her ears from her heart or from her brain exploding? She'd never touched anyone like this, maybe Paul's arms and he was huge. Seth wasn't anywhere as big as Paul was.

She moved her hand up to his shoulders where some of his hair hid some of his skin. His hair was still slightly damp, which curled in ringlets around his skin, so she found that interesting as she moved his hair from his left shoulder. She cupped Seth's skin with both hands, physically measuring how big his biceps were. They were still too big for her to close her fingers around. Mercy had to reach across his body to do the same thing with his other arm, measuring with both hands. Yep, she thought. Still the same as the other.

She ran the back of her hand over the cheek she had slapped. There was a small red mark there from where her hand connected with his face. She frowned.

"I'm sorry." She ran her thumb over the mark. "I hurt you."

"No, Merce." He said. "You could never hurt me. You did what you thought was right. I was sending mixed signals. But I do like kissing you."

"You do?" She leaned a little forward, her hair falling over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I do."

Biting her lower lip, Mercy leaned forward and hovered over his mouth. Seth didn't move, but his exhalations were heavy.

"Take your time." He said, his eyes not looking at her.

She decided to test a kiss on his cheek, enjoying the feel of his beard scraping against her nose. She kissed him there, just before moving to the corner of his mouth. Seth made a sound, which sounded like a groan. Mercy moved again and pressed her mouth to his, tilting her head to the side and sighed. It did feel good, not like the ones she had before. This was good, it did make her open her mouth just to try that lip nip that Seth did to her.

Seth growled, his left hand coming to cup her hip. The other tangled with her hair, holding her as he helped her through the kiss. She felt the tip of his tongue lap out, his mouth sucked at her lower lip and she opened her mouth. Mercy jerked back when his tongue met hers.

"What?" Seth pushed her hair back, looking up at her.

"I don't like that." She shuddered. "I don't like the feeling."

"Then we don't need to do it."

Mercy took a moment to think of something else. What else did Seth have that she liked. She looked at his hand that was resting on his chest.

She grabbed his right hand from behind his head. His hand was hard and calloused palms from working out the way he did. He had strong hands, vein popping and everything. Mercy smiled as she ran her thumbs over the hard bumps and ridges along his palm, earning a sigh from Seth.

"I get a massage, huh?" Seth asked.

"I like your hands." Mercy looked at him. "Why do you often perform with gloves on?"

"They are more for show, like a costume. They can help me grip my opponents from time to time."

She raised his palm to her mouth, her lips grazing over the palm. He had lotion on, which made him smell better. Mercy kissed down his palm, connecting with the pulse on his wrist, lips grazing as the muscle that flex under her touch.

"Can you hold me?" Mercy asked a moment later. "Tonight?"

"Sure, Babe. Whatever you want from me."

Mercy got off him, then got off the bed and went for where her things were located. Seth got off the bed, hands going for his belt. Usually that meant he was ready for her, that was what Ernie told her. Anytime he wanted her he would be taking off his belt. So Seth wanted her. He never made it clear if that was what he wanted, it was just what Ernie told her about men, women were only there to submit to them.

"Babe, aren't you going to go get changed?" He asked. "Or do you want me to take the bathroom first."

"Um. I'll, I'll go." She grabbed her clothes and darted for the bathroom.

Mercy rested her head against the door, trying to catch her breath. She asked herself, why did Seth not want her? He didn't intend on having sex with her? How was that possible.

She drew a blank as she changed into her night clothes. When Mercy left the bathroom, Seth was already in some tiny briefs, which was different than the boxers he had wore the night before and just seeing the outline of his backside as he leaned over to do something on the nightstand. They were black and red, and his legs were just as muscled as his arms. Broad shoulders with hair grazing his upper back.

Seth turned to look at her. He smiled.

"Ready for bed?" He asked.

Maybe he was waiting for her to lay down on the bed before he climbed on her. He would expect her to lay on her back and lay with her legs open. Maybe it wouldn't be the same as it had before. Maybe it would be nice. After all Seth allowed her to touch him, to see feel his muscles and it sort of felt okay.

"Mercy?" Seth pulled back the covers. "Come on. Let's get to bed."

So she did.

* * *

Seth saw that Mercy moved stiff, her back straight as she climbed into the bed. She laid down flat on her back and looked up at the ceiling, not looking at him.

"You okay, Mercy?" Seth asked as he climbed in, laying next to her.

"I thought," but then she stopped.

"Thought what? Did I do something you didn't like?" He rolled over on his side and looked at her.

"When a man takes off his belt, it means he's ready." She said.

"Ready? Ready for what?"

"Sex."

Seth sucked in a breath and stared at her for a moment. "You thought that I wanted sex?" He finally asked.

"That was the cue I knew back in Alaska. Even if Koda and Raven were still awake, if he started taking off his belt it meant that he wanted me to lay under him."

"No." Seth sat up. "I would never do that to you, Mercy. I would never make you think that. Hell, I care about you. This kissing stuff is great. But I don't want you to feel uncomfortable. We're not even a couple, we're not even dating."

She turned her head towards him. "It's what I know, Seth. It's what I've always known since I was fourteen. I don't know anything about what is right to do or not do."

"I know you don't. Which is why I'm not going to force you. I let you choose to do something, I want you to choose what you want. Remember what I told you, you tell me what you want. You have the right to choose."

"I want you to hold me like how I did with you last night." She turned over on her side, facing away from him.

Seth slipped his arm under hers, reached down and grabbed her hand as he pressed his chest into her upper back and curled them into a ball. With her being so short, it was easier for him to get comfortable in this position. He pressed his face into the top of her head, kissing her hair.

It felt good, even if there had been no sex. Seth ended up smiling as Mercy relaxed into him, sighing as he placed small kisses around her head.

Before long the both of them fell asleep.

Morning came too early in Seth's mind, especially when his alarm started going off.

Seth looked down, Mercy was still asleep and still curled up on her side. They were in the same position as they had been when they fell asleep.

After smacking the alarm off, Seth curled up against Mercy's back again. She sighed as his fingers brushed up against her stomach.

"Are you awake?" Seth asked.

"Yes." She responded.

"Can I kiss you?"

She turned her head and looked at him. Seth smiled and pressed his mouth to hers, cupping the side of her face. It was short, but afterwards he nudged her nose with his and then kissed her forehead.

"That okay?" He asked.

"Yes."

He brushed his fingers over her cheek, pushing some of her hair behind her ear and Mercy smiled slightly.

Seth stayed there, his hand caressing any exposed skin on Mercy's upper body. They didn't talk and the only sounds heard was the air circulating in the room and sounds from outside the windows.

It was broken up by the sound of Seth's phone going off.

"Hello?" He asked once he fumbled around for it and answered.

"Rollins, it's Trips. Are you going to get Mercy to the jet?"

"Shit," Seth groaned. "Yeah, we just got up. We'll be there soon."

"Have Nattie take her. We don't want you two to be seen together." The man said. "She'll be there to pick up Mercy."

"Great. Thanks for the heads up."

He hung up and rolled over. Mercy was now on her back and looking at the ceiling, her hands clasped over her chest.

"I'll stop by when I can, Mercy." He said.

Mercy nodded. "Okay."

"Come here." He pulled her over to him.

Hooking her leg over him, Seth helped Mercy to straddle him. He brought her down to a kiss, making her put her fingers in his hair and then he wrapped both arms around her waist. Remembering that she didn't like tonguing, he settled with snacking on her lower lip, which she reciprocated and did the same with his.

"Be my girl." Seth mumbled against her lips. "Be my girl, Mercy."

"I don't know how."

"This, just like this." He rubbed her arms. "No sex, no forcing you to have sex, nothing. I want this, I want you like this when we're together."

"Okay." She kissed his cheek. "Just like this. Be my man."

"I love that idea." He murmured.

With a sigh, he told Mercy that Nattie was going to pick her up and take her to the jet. So she got up and began getting ready to go. She took her clothes into the bathroom, which gave Seth enough time to throw on some pants. She returned wearing a Bret Hart shirt and more black jeans. Her hair was up in a high ponytail. He saw her eyes dip down to look at him chest.

"Kiss?" He asked.

She walked up to him and looked up at him. Her fingers grazed his exposed skin and she placed a kiss at the middle of his chest.

"That's not what I meant, Babe." He tugged on her hair, pulling her lips off his chest.

"You mean like this?" She reached up, grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down to her level.

The small kisses were driving him crazy, like electric tingles shooting up and down his spine as she smiled at him while he "helped" her get her things together.

Before long Nattie and Tyson were there to take her to the jet.

"Hey, ready?" Nattie asked.

Seth handed off her bags to Tyson. "Thanks for helping out the other day, guys."

"No problem." Nattie smiled. "It's good to see you in a better mood, Mercy."

"Thanks."

"Don't you own a shirt?" Tyson asked Seth as Mercy left the room with Nattie.

"Why, are you jealous?"

He and Tyson shared a smile before Tyson left. After Seth closed the door, he went and prepared for his day, he was going to drive out with Roman and Dean.

* * *

 **Sorry about the long wait to get this out. I hope you guys liked it. Let me know what you think.**


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